The Brno singer and author Jana Jun Šrámková claims that the name of their new album Ve vlasech (In Hair) has nothing to do with her profession of hairdressing. And it is true that more than scissors or curling tongs in this case hair is linked to the wind, which is penetrating and was already blowing on Jana’s previous album Nahá (Naked). However in the lyrics of the new disc it is water rather than wind that is the important constant. In individual songs rapids, paddles, boats and the ocean appear. But that is not the most important information. Although words are important in Jana’s compositions, the new album continues in the line established by the previous discs Intimně (2010) and Nahá (2014). Above the story is feelings, drawing with syllables, misty scenery, sketched with voices and coloured in by other instruments.
On the transformation of the former regular group Cat Dogs’ Band into the singer’s solo project with an accompanying band I have already written in connection with the previous album. Jana gradually evolved from acoustic folk to moody pop or folk-pop with elements of other styles and at that time I compared it for example with the group Lanugo, which arrived at a similar style of music from a different starting point, from jazz.
Its author recorded the album Ve vlasech as Cat. Her ‘dog’ (and male) friends were this time erased from the project. It is a paradox since on the new album men play a greater role than on the two previous discs. It has nothing to do with the fact that with the exception of the harpist Ivana Švestková and the cellist Alžběta Poukarová all the accompanying musicians are male. More important is the fact that one of these men – the bass player Jakub Šimáně – was also the co-producer and musical director of the album. Another important figure, when it comes to creating the mood and colouring, is Petr Uvira from the Opava group Ladě. And in several remarkable duets Jana sang with the unmistakeable Jaroslav Záděra from the group Děti kapitána Morgana. We can add to this the drummer Pospe (Šimáně’s colleague from the group Tranzan) and in one of the tracks on percussion Vít Halška (for a change Uvira’s colleague from Ladě) and on acoustic guitar Jaroslav Viteker, with whom Jana Jun Šrámková not long ago was still playing in the purely folk group Tři masa. So even though Ve vlasech is a solo recording of a female singer-songwriter, the male element in it is still very significant.
As an author Jana Šrámková has never promoted herself at all costs. In the context of the current album she says that she would prefer to play it live twice and then discard it.
Although on the new album Jana/Cat repeats her tried and tested approaches and elements (her dreamy voice and the already mentioned moody lyrics in the style of the early recording of the group Oceán), there has been a not insignificant shift. On the one hand as the author she has tried to return to acoustic fold, while on the other her singing and piano and the instruments of the other musicians are supplements by sampling. The result this time does not approach modern pop, and even less jazz, but rather the most up-to-date expression of folk. Ambient folk, in which the rhythms remind us of water dripping and the blurred contours off individual tones tell her tales as richly as syllables and words. Alongside the artists who I have long compared Jana Šrámková to, here I would add Lenka Dusilová, who at some moments the Brno singer approaches in her vocal colouring. Another is for example Enya, whose mood-forming music Jana’s vocals sometimes remind me of. And of course once more Oceán as a group working in a different genre but working in a similar way with language.
In her new songs Jana Jun Šrámková and her guests have managed to balance the role of acoustic and electronic sounds. I feel that the author has carefully selected individual instruments, but primarily concrete tonal colours and their intensity. I applaud the decision to invite Petr Uvira, an excellent guitarist, for the disc even though he has nothing to do with the Brno scene. Also interesting is the role of Jaroslav Záděra in several songs (in the title track Ve vlasech it is like hearing Michael Kocáb in one of the slower songs of Pražský výběr) and especially that of Jakub Šimáně. His bass in all its beauty floats to the surface in the song Dům, provides a very pleasant accompaniment in the introductory song Obří srdce and I admire the work with the percussion for example in the work V lodi. The singer and pianist herself (see her lovely work with tones in the song Kousek tíhy) sometimes is unable to rid herself of certain mannerisms such as extending originally short vowel sounds, but then that is a part of her work with sound-painting and moods. Here what I said years ago of her earlier album Intimně is also true, that Jana’s works are not hits nor easily remembered. Listening to them is however very pleasant and not just that. I am convinced that in the album Ve vlasech the author has managed to go further than before in finding herself and that this image of her work is the purest she has yet managed. This is how I see the solo Cat, who however even this time is not without her Dogs.
Cat – Ve vlasech. Issued at her own expense in 2016. 10 works, overall length: 36:00
