On his second solo album, Arek Jakubik exchanges pure synth rock for conceptual music, one that is more intonated and declaimed rather than sung.
Arek Jakubik has always been an unexceptional artist, ready to test himself in new projects or genres (he is both an actor and a musician). This time, he comes back with a new project, a concept album about different shades of love, which is also a poignant homage to life. Jakubik affirms every single second of his personal time, and it can be somewhat heard in the way he performs his lyrics and makes them even more “his.”
Through all his songs, Jakubik paints a portrait of Jan and Krystyna Marzec, who are Jakubik’s own Shakespearian Romeo and Julia. However, they don’t live anywhere in Verona, but in Piaseczno, near Warsaw. In his quite cinematic plot (all ten tracks are connected by the same tropes, plot and similar guitar riffs), Jakubik wants to show us that love and disappointment can affect us no matter the circumstances or where we live.
Maybe, this is what makes Jakubik’s Romeo i Julia żyją so special: his lyrics are simple, but remind us of our own experiences. He is no longer scared to explore the idea of death or disloyalty in a relationship. Jakubik breaks all the Polish taboos and wants his audience to confront their own dissembles and frustrations in relationships. Although Jakubik doesn’t aspire to become our therapist, he becomes one, even unintentionally. The way he examines all those issues feels so true (in his words) that we have to, sooner or later, filter those lyrics through our sensibilities.
“Słońce się z żalu w chmury wtuli,” he sings (or utters) in one of the final tracks from the album. It’s only one of a few metaphors through which he shapes tiny short stories in this album. Maybe, it’s not an album for many listenings (after all, it’s a plain story, which we quickly know after a while), but it is surely a highly recommended experience for anyone who adores Arek Jakubik or would like to.
Photo: Hanna Nawrot
4/5 stars
Author: Jan Tracz
