Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Taja & The Kirkwaalds
Label: Celinka
Released: 2018
Length: 13:35
Rating: 4/5
Taja Božič is a Slovenian musician, composer and arranger who released an »extended play« (EP) called »Divji svet« this past May with her backing band The Kirkwaalds. It runs a little over 13 minutes, and alongside the title track, three other originals round out this singer-songwriter effort.
Taja’s vocals sit right at the center of the story. Absolutely. They carry a polished, lived-in soul shine, because they’ve got no shortage of refined technique, big, colorful range and deeply felt, passionate delivery. Really, all the key vocal qualities that make you call a singer more than excellent, distinctive and downright seductive have found a home on this EP.
The band builds its own pop story, a crafty blend of cabaret, jazz-soul vocal improvisation, funky rhythmic twists, the odd instrumental detour into jazz-groove territory and R&B. Four strong, well-crafted tracks define this EP, and each of them has a recognizable, tangible charisma and expressive breadth, but above all, as said, the foundation and the first magnet of the story is Taja’s exceptionally polished and accomplished voice, which finds its feet brilliantly in a musical setting of mostly piano and synth textures. That setting is built from a delicate, tender, entirely unpretentious yet sophisticated weave of the backing crew’s playing. Just like Taja’s vocal delivery is throughout. The team also adds a hugely welcome contrast to the arrangements and lifts the dynamics in the tracks with female and male backing vocals, which, in some distant way, breathe into the songs that faraway, age-old yet beloved-by-everyone sentiment of the Slovenian popevka of the seventies, which we Slovenes carry inside us and, of course, feel.
Taja brings the lyrics, which Rock Vilčnik wrote for all four tracks, to life with remarkable depth of feeling and, as said, gives them a special expressive character. Taja is, after all, a seasoned fixture of the Slovenian music scene, and her partnership with Vilčnik goes way back, »ancient« even. Among other things, she also wrote the song Nezemljan for the band Patetico, and she’s renowned as an excellent pianist. She also plays in the all-female vocal combo Jazz Ladies and is known for her work in the group 90’s Orgy, which was mostly known for playing covers. The EP »Divji svet« is an exceptionally bold and ambitious herald of an album that is very likely in the making.
Lineup
Taja Božič – keyboards, vocals
The Kirkwaalds:
Nina Korošak Serčič – drums, cymbals
Hrvoje Kralj – electric bass
Sara Ester Gredler – synthesizer, backing vocals
Miha Novak – backing vocals
Track list
1. Zapuščam poletje
2. Dnevnik
3. Divji svet
4. Tvoje novo ime
