Saturday night in the cabin in the woods was, regrettably, unforgettable. There were friends. There were cards. There was a concoction consisting of three kinds of clear liquor flavored with cheap brandy. There was an agreement not to quit the game until the music stopped, which was unfortunate because there was a Springsteen box set in the five-CD changer. Oy.
The next morning came all too quickly. Strong coffee was called for, lots of it, and music, but what music? No more Bruce, please, no, not that. We needed something peaceful but with energy, something unobtrusive but not generic. By happenchance I played “True” by the Croatian-born, New York-based multi-instrumentalist Zel and discovered I had done a good thing. And so has Zel. It was just what the doctor ordered (Zel, by the way, is a physician).
The title track that starts the disc set the tone immediately, conferring the duel sensations of relaxation and discovery; it’s music that puts you at ease, yet refuses to simply blend into the background. The next cut, “Kingdom,” confirmed the initial impression, and so it went, from tune to tune until all the bed-headed survivors of the night before crawled into the room and asked who was playing.
It’s not everyday you experience an album of flamenco guitar. It’s the even rarer day when you hear the traditional sounds of flamenco played against surging synthesizer harmonies, with programmed beats keeping hypnotic time. But that’s what you get with Zel, and it’s a stirring combination that harkens an intriguing talent.
The cut “True” layers a melody played in the flamenco tremolo technique over a jaunty, rather pop-oriented electric piano track. The rapid picking of the guitar catches the ear and sets up the slower, swelling “Kingdom” that follows it – slower, but with just as rapid plucking. “Libertas” is the closest thing to traditional Spanish flamenco on the disc, with a drum track that sounds like rising and falling castanets.
If you ever wondered what a vintage Croatian song played flamenco style would sound like, check out “First,” a lovely melody played over haunting synthesizers; the total effect is mesmerizing.
“Pearl,” described by Zel as “a melodic interpretation of Alzapua,” is played entirely with his thumb, a performance we would surly like to see live; the same could be said for “Faithful,” a combination of flamenco tremolo and picado, a mind-bending display of dexterity that involves all five fingers of the picking hand bending and holding strings on time in two different styles. Zel must be a surgeon.
“Gate” returns to the fingerstyle technique first encountered in “Faithful,” but in a more spirited melody and faster runs on the strings. “Three Days,” with its thoughtful rests, brings an emotional counterpoint to the melody rarely experienced in the other numbers.
A reprise of “Libertas,” played at 140 beats-per-minute, closes the album on a spirited note. When it was over, the listening party paid Zel the biggest compliment a new disc can receive.
We pushed “repeat” on the CD changer.
Reviewed By Buzz McClain
