Mundinova - W Drodze (2020)

Mundinova

Dorota Kołodziej - vocals
Michał Wilczyński - guitar
Marzena Cybulka - bass

Mateusz Szemraj - oud, rubab, baglama

Dariusz Kaliszuk - percussion

W Drodze

PRIVATE EDITION 2020

By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish ensemble Mundinova comprising of vocalist Dorota Kołodziej, bassist Marzena Cybulka and guitarist Michał Wilczyński. Percussionist Dariusz Kaliszuk and oud player Mateusz Szemraj guest on selected tracks. The album presents ten original pieces, eight composed by Cybulka and two by Wilczyński. Cybulka also wrote three of the lyrics (two in English) and co-wrote one with Kołodziej, and four lyrics were contributed by Justyna Paluch. Two pieces are instrumentals. The music was recorded at the fabulous Monochrom Studio and engineered by Ignacy Gruszecki with the usual spectacular sound quality.

The music is a wonderful Jazz-World Fusion project, with splendid themes beautifully weaved and excellently executed by the trio and guests. Although song oriented, the music offers unusual accompaniment performed basically just by bass and guitar, which again portrays the tendency towards minimalism so characteristic of Polish Jazz in 2019.

The World Music influences, although quite obvious both melodically and rhythmically, are not very specific, which is very effective. Attentive listeners will be able to hear some Flamenco (well guitar), Middle East, Slavic and other layers, mysteriously popping up when least expected.

Kołodziej offers splendid vocal performances, both while singing the lyrics with sensitivity and heartfelt honesty and even more so when singing marvelous vocalese. Wilczyński plays superbly tasteful guitar accompaniment and solos exuberantly but without unnecessary pathos. But it is Cybulka, who easily steals the show with her bass virtuosity, which should make many bassists truly envious. She is simply sensational and beautifully exemplifies that female intuition and feel are much more important than technical proficiency and showmanship trickery, albeit she lacks neither. She really has the Groove! Szemraj, as expected, adds some hair-raising moments of his own, which are the proverbial cherry on top.

Overall the album offers plenty of wonderful music, a rich variety of moods and melodic worlds, brilliant instrumental performances, all this in a pleasant, highly focused atmosphere, which makes listening a truly joyful ride. There is no pretentious slickness, no trying to sound somebody else, just some wonderful, straight-to-the-heart musical message. Brilliant stuff!