There are moments in the vast constellation of contemporary jazz when a distinctive voice organically emerges and conjures tremendous amounts of passion, energy, and presence rarely heard or seen on the music scene nowadays. On her debut solo album Drugo Sunce, exceptional Croatian vocalist and composer Maja Rivić inhabits the sound constructed by her impressive following band. She dissolves into it, twists through its chord changes, and lifts melodies like smoke from a flaming page. This is not just a jazz record, though it is deeply rooted in the jazz idiom, nor is it just another plain and simple comprehensive collection of songs. Drugo Sunce is a conceptual work of textural nuance, emotive depth, and radical presence, a cleverly arranged fever dream that balances cerebral improvisation and emotional lucidity. Her background in extended vocal techniques, performance art, and experimental music is apparent throughout the record, but it never comes at the expense of connection. This is music as transmission, not exhibition. There are echoes of Jeanne Lee and Meredith Monk in her tone, maybe a glint of early Björk in the way she sculpts breath into rhythm, but these references dissipate quickly. What remains are her fresh, unique, innovative, and mindblowing signature vocal maneuvers that will immediately pull you into a jazz maelstrom and refuse to let go long after this Drugo Sunce ends.
Recorded in early 2025 at the renowned Artesuono studio in Italy, this album is the culmination of a long-gestating vision. Rivić surrounds herself with exceptional musicians like Mak Murtić on tenor saxophone, Hrvoje Galler on piano, Hrvoje Kralj on double bass, and Borko Rupena on drums and percussion. They are equal collaborators, co-conspirators in Rivić’s sonic architecture. The synergy between them is so intuitive, so precise and fluid, it almost borders on telepathic. Their interplay is chamber-like in sensitivity but exploratory in spirit. The group moves not in pursuit of climax or resolution, but in the interest of detail, of how a single cymbal brush can nudge a phrase forward, how a melodic cell can stretch and retract like breath. At times, the music descends into abstraction, then glides into lyricism, then slips into a groove before abandoning it altogether. There’s a constant oscillation between the composed and the improvised, the known and the unknown, resulting in a full-length album that defies easy categorization. Drugo Sunce shines in its bilingual nature. Side A is sung in English while Side B unfolds in Croatian, and it’s more of an artistic declaration than a stylistic choice. Language, for Rivić, is not a vessel for narrative but another instrument to bend and break, a texture to manipulate. Her Croatian delivery feels like a return to linguistic and emotional source. The vowels seem warmer, the phrasing more instinctual. It feels like music exhales more fully when rooted in her native language. But Rivić’s true instrument is not language but the voice itself, serving as body, breath, gesture, or memory. She leaps from whisper to wail, from incantation to lullaby, from wordless motifs to spoken word, all with an uncanny control of dynamics and timbre. She also uses silence as expertly as sound, and perhaps most impressively, she never sings merely to impress. Every note is tethered to meaning, even when the meaning resists clear definition.
Some listeners might call this album impressionistic, and they could not be far from the truth. It does not proceed in neat narratives but in tonal washes, emotional swells, and subtle collisions. You feel a lineage with the European jazz vanguard, the atmospheric compositions of Tomasz Stańko, and the wordless melodicism of Norma Winstone. But there’s also a spirit here that’s wholly uncategorized, subtly folk-inflected, art-driven, smart, witty, and all around abstract in its refusal to conform. You’ll notice how Maja Rivić embedded poetry in those compositional structures. There is a strong sense of intentionality lurking in the arrangements, yet they remain open enough to allow spontaneity to bloom. Mak Murtić’s saxophone does not play against Rivić, nor does it merely accompany her vocal performance. His sonic maneuvers dance around her vocal lines, trail them like a shadow, answer them like a distant call. Galler’s piano is equally responsive, shifting from spacious impressionism to percussive haste with intuitive grace. Kralj’s bass work is sometimes subtle but foundational, providing shape to the most ephemeral moments. Rupena, perhaps the ensemble’s secret weapon, plays the drums with painterly touch, rarely loud, but always articulate, alert to every ripple and pause. The sense of risk crowns this marvelous full-length debut. Maja Rivić has not crafted an album to cater to or please listeners. It is not content to deliver mood music or background ambiance. It demands your utmost attention, rewards patience, and often takes the listener to the edge of comfort, yet it is never alienating. Her sincerity shines through, even in the densest moments.
Thematically, Drugo Sunce simultaneously explores memory and presence, inner weather and outer space. There’s a cosmic quality to its pacing, a sense of timeless drift, and yet, it remains so organic in its abstraction. It’s a soulful sound of an artist refusing reduction, resisting genre, reaching toward a voice unfiltered by expectation. With this debut full-length, Maja Rivić proves that she’s not only an experienced jazz vocalist but also a fascinating songwriter, composer, arranger, and builder of sonic worlds. Her music immediately transports you to a different realm thanks to her fresh, unique, innovative, and abstract ideas that often go beyond comprehension. If you compare this album with many renowned international works, you’ll notice that Drugo Sunce shines even brighter thanks to its abstract, experimental, and avant-garde nature. You have to experience this jazz masterpiece to fully comprehend the creative genius of Maja Rivić and her accompanying band. The album is available on vinyl via Menart Records. Don’t miss it!
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