After a gap of five years the lyricist and singer Lada Šimíčková and the composer and musician (or songwriter) Ivo Cicvárek have brought out their second joint album. Thus the collection Hotel v tiché ulici (Hotel in a Quiet Street) from 2012 has not remained a one-off project. Taking the second album as the proverbial touchstone, the duo has passed with flying colours. Five years is plenty of time for putting together new material and the songs that made their way into the final selection and now have a chance to become public despite the name of the album.
Lada and Ivo became acquainted thanks to the Textová dílna (Lyric Workshop) of Slávek Janoušek, a platform intended to provide lyrics to be put to music (as well of course as the chance to meet both virtually and in real life). Ivo Cicvárek is not the only composer to have provided a musical overcoat to Lada’s verse. Otherwise on the new album we can find one song from Slávek Janoušek and one from Lada’s husband Michal Kosmonaut Šimíček. However the majority of the songs here are truly the result of the work of this duo who have also been giving concerts together for a number of years. The cooperation is this time even more intensive in that both protagonists have shared in several of the melodies. Despite this, this time the album is also primarily a woman’s testimony, and at the same time Lada is ever more convincing as a singer. The male element is presented not only by Ivo in the vocals (and exceptionally also in solo songs – Spousta věcí and Rozespsalá), but also in the musical accompaniment, which is clearer and more accessible than in the previous album. While Vilém Spilka already played a role in the duo’s first disc, this time I have the feeling that his jazz (and non-jazz) guitar is even more important for the sound of the song. This time Vilém added in two other members of his quartet, the saxophonist Radek Zapadl and the drummer Martin Kleibl, and their interplay can be heard in Soukromé písně. Both of the alternating bassists, Petr Pospíšil (double bass) and Jakub Šimáně (bass guitar) fit well into the ensemble, as does another jazzman, Jiří Kotača (cornet). The accordion of Ondřej Zámečník is heard in only three songs, but without it this chanson album would be missing something important.
I do not think that Lada Šimíčková has made any dramatic changes as a lyricist, but I noticed possibly more assonance in the songs than on the preceding album. In fact, as though most of the lyrics are still only lightly sketched out on sound similarities, and not trying to be technically perfect. The result surprisingly does not sound poor, but is - in conjunction with Lada’s natural rendition - very believable. It is true that in written form some of the verses positively reek of imperfection (Zlehka), elsewhere however the authoress provides an interesting text structure (Vídám park). However this time the content is even more important than the form. And it is interesting how in terms of themes the new album augments the five-year-old debut. While in the case of Hotel v tiché ulici I perceived as the main theme being anchored in a place, the new album positively pulses with movement. In individual songs there are dreams of flying, boats sail, the morning tram arrives; one isn’t running fast enough and in the other steps are speeded up. And the verse “Jen se hnout, z místa hnout” (“Just move, get out of the place”) from the song Zlehka could be the motto of the whole album. A second important line however connects this album with Hotel v tiché ulici. Lada Šimíčková knows how to write a strong story, or indicate an event that can be perceived as a symbol or a springboard for her own interpretation. Beautiful examples are the songs Hosté and especially Rozespalá, a fuzzy ballad for male and female voices.
Soukromé písně is not an album for only one listening. Speaking for myself it was only after repeated listening that I perceived the musical beauty of the apparently ordinary song Vídám park. And on careful reading of the lyrics in the booklet one becomes aware that the mentioned theme of movement and travel is really no accident. “Nesu slabý plamen dál k vysokým horám,” (“I carry a weak flame on to the high mountains”) is how the first song begins and the last ends with the words: “A cesta nekončí v propasti času” (“And the journey does not end in time’s abyss”). As if it was all only one long private song - one story.
Lada Šimíčková & Ivo Cicvárek – Soukromé písně; Released by Ivo Cicvárek 2017, distributor: Indies Scope. 14 tracks, overall time: 45:12
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