Teorie dospělosti

“It’s super strong as hell,” wrote the sound master, Ondřej Ježek to Jakub Čermák after sending him the master of his ninth studio album, Teorie dospělosti (i.e. Theory of Maturity). The immense arrangements of the previous albums were, however, replaced with intimacy: the songwriter often remains on his own with the guitar, which he recorded live at the JáMor studio together with the vocals. “I wanted to record an album, which would be as close to my live shows as possible or at least as far as I feel when performing,” adds Jakub Čermák.

Sometimes the emotions of the songs are supported by the drumming accents and furies of Jaroslav Nogy, by the fragile viola and vocal of Čermák’s long-term music partner, Julia Goetzová, the minimalist piano of Jirka Libánský, or the sensitive vocals of guest vocalists Zuzana Vantuchová and Marie Puttnerová. Ondřej Ježek’s sound subtlety and ingenuity turns this purely folk record into a post-apocalyptic tension so that it goes back to the kitchen, ready for the midnight talks over the third bottle of wine.

“The last two years have been the most difficult ones in my life and this is obviously reflected in the moods of the songs which were created at that time. Teorie dospělosti (i.e. Theory of Maturity) is actually a bit misleading as a title. My predominant feeling after thirty is rather “maturity is only a theory”. But by expressing pain and the doubt over it, man gains the upper hand - and may also help relieve the sadness from someone else,” believes Jakub Čermák, who sings about his experience with divorce, complications of a relationship, autumns, wolf saliva and alcohol.

The album is released under the wings of Indies Scope only in the digital distribution and supplements the related collection of poems from the Upper Mountains, and which is also being published by the Brno group Ears and Winds.