DZĪVS (ALIVE)

The Latvian electro-jazz band Very Cool People released a new album Alive

The Latvian electro-jazz band Very Cool People released their most explosive album yet called Dzīvs or Alive. It is the tenth jubilee album for the band and it was created over a year and a half of intense work.

As the leader of Very Cool People, guitarist Elvijs Grafcovs, says about the process of creating the album, “First we wrote the music, then we recorded it, then we threw the record out, added samples, re-recorded, threw it out again, then we created our samples plus recorded all kinds of live instruments, vocals, screams and all the other possible sounds you can make with your mouth, and tried to make the guitar sound like an organ, the trumpet sound like a truck, the saxophone sound like a bass, and so on.”

As a result, the album includes by far the largest number of musical instruments, synthesizers, and other electronic music devices in the band’s history. It is said that at some moments nine guitars and 15 different synthesizers can be heard on the record. For some songs, the total number of individual soundtracks reaches up to two hundred…

“During the making of the album there were no limits to creativity, not only in the process of composing and improvising but also in the process of creating new sounds”, emphasizes Elvijs.

The album is called Alive because it is, after all, electronic music played in a live way, mixing styles of jazz, funk, and rock and using all musical instruments available in the band, including, for example, clarinets. So it’s kind of Frankenstein – a life given to objects or in this case beats and samples by playing them live. That’s why the symbol of the album is the so-called googly eyes. 

The new album also contains a lot of sung or rap text, which is atypical for the band, and was also created on their own, without invited artists for performance. This was done to accurately express the musicians’ thoughts about current topics or social phenomena.

“This time I was allowed to be in an instrumentalist role as well”, says one of the band’s vocalists Paula Saija. “In this album, vocals are also used a lot as an additional instrument, adding it to various effects and chants. In general, both the vocal and the instrumental group play an equal role. The recording process took place experimentally, looking for different voice possibilities, sounds, timbres, sometimes even stepping out of the usual aesthetics of the voice”.

The next stage of creative torment for the band began already at the moment when the recorded material had to be adapted to the needs of concerts. It became clear that additional forces should be involved in this process, as a result of which Elvijs’ latest joke about the band is that even he no longer knows how many people will participate in the Very Cool People concerts this summer. 

Together with the album, the single Nē Nu Jā Nē Nu Nē (No Well Yes No Well No) has been released, with a video created by Valdis Krūmiņš in the best traditions of the band. In the song, you can hear the vocals of both Paula Saija and the band’s trombonist Laura Rozenberga, as well as Latvian national TV news announcer Gusts Kikusts’ voice. This time, the typical Latvian answer to all life’s questions used in the title of the song is played thematically.

Paula Saija – vocals, Laura Rozenberga – trombone, vocals, Oskars Ozoliņš – trumpet, vocals, Māris Jēkabsons – tenor saxophone, vocals, Kristaps Lubovs – baritone saxophone, vocals, Elvijs Grafcovs – guitar, bass guitar, synthesizers, vocals, Māris Vitkus – keyboards, synthesizers, Andris Kauliņš – keyboards, synthesizers, Jānis Olekšs – bass guitar, Andris Buiķis – drums, percussion, vocals, and Jānis Kalve – samples and sound tweaking, participated in the recording of the new album. 

The compositions were composed and arranged by all the band members together, but produced by Elvijs Grafcovs and Jānis Kalve. The recording was made at Very Cool Studio, Ciemupes Production, and Labo Ierakstu Studio. The album was mixed and mastered by Jānis Kalve. The author of the design is Gatis Pakalns.

The new album Dzīvs can be heard on major music streaming platforms and is available in CD format as well.