Baja
Wolfhour

[Other Electricities; 2008]

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Styles: omnivorous collage
Others: Four Tet, Berg Sans Nipple, Nathan Michel, e jugend
Links: Baja - Other Electricities

Baja’s Daniel Vujanic is a prolific, thoughtful artist with very strong opinions about the value of craftsmanship and intentionality. Each time I have listened to one of his releases, his belief in these qualities seems to cartwheel through the headphones. 2007’s Maps/Systemalheur was a perplexing joyride through assiduously produced landscapes. Last summer saw the release of Last Exit Wedding, his latest work as part of duo ejugend. That recording also evinced a lovingly rendered sonic wanderlust. Vujanic’s newest effort Wolfhour roams with similar precision through a laundry list of genres (drone, jazz, post-rock, minimal techno) that fails to encapsulate the cohesive, sculpted identity of the music.

Wolfhour boasts some of the most unabashedly pretty electroacoustic sounds I’ve heard, yet I wouldn’t call it pop – I always have the sense that Vujanic is more interested in exploring the elasticity of boundaries than in gunning for pleasure centers. He’s got a knack for phrasing and suspense that’s rare in music with this sonic palette. He avoids both spastic prefuse-style editing and traditional song structures. Instead, he gives ample space to layered guitar patterns and the swelling, skittering atmospheric elements that surround them. Maps/Systemalheur was conceived as a series of lengthy suites; I think this remains the best structural model for Vujanic’s music, which evolves in movements rather than verses or tracks. Steely Dan and King Crimson are both reference points; the former for Vujanic’s choice of sumptuous guitar tone and the latter for his compositional ambition.

A record like this, one that darts in multiple directions while somehow remaining coherent, is the sign of a truly robust imagination. Some people have dreams of stick figures; some dream feature films. Vujanic falls in the latter category, but his music is too unpredictable to suffer the “cinematic” label. Visionary is too pompous a term for him; he’s as much artisan as artist. Subtle ideas, studied patience, and clever, unobtrusive production make his twisting musical pathways both urgent and inviting.

1. Meth Arrow 2. The Veau 3. Wolfhour 4. Phrem 5. Go Wolpertinger! Go! 6. Djilas Plus 7. Bous Makel 8. Return to Anthol (Ghosts in Denial) 9. Paperblades and Ponytails