What makes music feel cinematic? Is it just vague memories brought about by hearing certain sounds or harmonies? I don't know, but for some reason, Picture This by Jakub Jusiński sounds cinematic. There aren't orchestras or anything, in fact it's like 95% guitar, bass, and drums, but it's impressive how much of a sense of place the EP creates.
That's not necessarily there when you first start spinning MEDICATIONS, the opening track, with its jaunty drums and surfin' Arabia lead guitar. A great introduction, regardless, as almost everything you hear here will set you up for the rest of the EP. There's a sense of pure unadulterated love for the electric guitar and everything it is capable of. It twangs, it roars, it groans and screeches, and by the end you wonder why anyone would ever need anything else.
But the cinematic quality really starts with the following track, PICTURE THIS. As it starts, there's just this feeling of a car driving at night time, or at least that's what I'm picturing. Maybe I'm just remembering the use of Chris Isaac's Wicked Game in Wild at Heart. Anyway, it's a cool song, that has movements that can be pretty surprising and satisfying.
It's not my favourite track, though.
My favourite track has actually arbitrarily been split into two tracks, but they work better as one in my opinion, and that's FENIX (A/FENIX (B. It's a surprising start, as a strange rhythm and sound of children cheering contrasts with everything we've heard so far, but soon enough a lonely guitar jumps in and starts noodling away. The track starts proper in the B section, as the simple strumming reminds me of the calmer moments in Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication. Again, I really appreciate the variety of textures that Jakub gets out of their guitar here, and the playing really is very impressive.
That leaves us with the final track, WAKACJE, which starts with a triumphant sounding riff coupled with a driving rhythm. It's weird, though. There are breakdowns here where it feels like the drums and the guitar fall out of step with each other and it's hard to tell if it's intentional. They lock back in soon enough, but it's the only time where I've really felt the sequenced nature of the drums and it's a bit jarring. Later on, though, there are almost comical disruptions where the track will get punky for like three seconds, so maybe it is intentional. Once again again again the guitars sound here, and there are tones that still feel new even after listening to all the earlier tracks. It's great.
Coming into this album, I wasn't sure how much it would resonate with me, but by the end I really was sold on it and immediately listened to the whole thing again. Jakub is both a very talented guitars and a great composer, and I think every track on this release is worth your time.