Kalná

God knows what’s going to happen next...  

Are you looking forward to something that would “sooth your soul”? Then this music wouldn’t be the thing! Although….well, in every case you wouldn’t fall from a chair laughing. Group of people gathered around the charismatic singer and poet Michael Kubesa doesn’t offer any amusing trendy glitz, but rather rawness of a soul worn by life. The songs are tender, raw, shy and vulgar and they are always wrapped up in original sound of the guitarist Petr Uvira. The band Ladě are accentuating rock song writing by their music; you can sense blues, alternative music and at the same time they are a band which pushes genres further and gives them a hallmark of originality and distinctiveness. One of their biggest assets is their live shows, both electric and acoustic ones, which leave very strident and intense impression.

The subheading of the band, “rude chanson”, captures, this time only partially, what you can expect while listening to this outstanding album called Kalná. A very slow start of opening song, which cuts through like a razor, will slowly prepare you for eleven following songs/stories, which are thanks to their rawness and intransigence like a life thrust under a nail with needle.  It’s really an experience. Everything is accentuated and semantically expanded by a forceful booklet including photos for particular songs.   

There is only one sure thing – the third studio album by Ladě is je in the true sense of the word extreme. You have chills running down your back and your eyes are tearing up while listening to it. It’s tense, carved from the marrow of nights and days and it’s frightfully charged with something. It’s both velvet and rasp, trip to space in rusty can, fairy tale told in a monster house and magician who pulls out of his hat something else but a rabbit. It’s neither a sticky lemonade nor fierce fight and of course, nothing in between. If you enjoy walking barefoot on the edge of a knife under the sky full of stars, it’s a good choice.