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Quidam - Quidam

Artist:	Quidam
Title:	Quidam
Label:	Ars Mundi 005R
Length(s):	65 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1996
Month of review:	06/1997

Line up

Emila Derkowska - vocals, cello, flute
Ewa Smarzynska - flute
Zbyszek Florek - keyboards
Maciek Meller - guitars
Radek Scholl - bass
Rafal Jermakow - drums

Tracks

1)	Sanktuarium	8.57 (Sanctuary)
2)	Chocbym	7.05 (Even if...)
3)	Bajkowy	3.42 (Fairylike)
4)	Gleboka Rzeka	8.03 (Deep river)
5)	Nocne Widziadla	7.21 (Night vision) (old Polish))
6)	Niespetnienie	9.44 (Something that did not come true)
7)	Warkocze	4.07 (Braids)
8)	Bijace Serca	1.53 (Beating hearts)
9)	Plone	14.09 (I'm on fire)

Don't think I know Polish, but my professor does, so I asked him..

Summary

Druing the festival at the Pul in June 1997 I met up for the second time with Quidam and they, friendly as they are, gave me a review copy. The band got raving reviews in iO Pages and were in the fact the first "Vette Krent" ever, so of course I was curious as to their album. Already I knew they were a great live act that could capture any audience (this is hearsay cause due to circumstances I could only see part of their hair-raising concert, when they played the cover of Child in Time).

I hope you will forgive my alphabetical translations of the titles.

The music

The albums opens with clear a guitar solo and continues with the subdued and delicate vocals of Emila, who shows her emotional and vocal power in the chorus of the track. After this the song becomes at first rather bouncy, but then more fluent and dreamy. The flute of Ewa is largely responsible for the Camel, but also rather classical, sound of this song. The softer parts have strong emotive power that tend to drag you along, the clear, melodic guitar sound reminds me a lot of that of Collage and the vocals are all encompassing on this track.

The next track, Chocbym, follows directly with an intro on the bass guitar (it is isn't it) and again the guitar sound reminds me of that of Collage and in fact maybe this is not surprising in light of the fact that Mirek Gil of that band plays the solo guitar. The chorus is rather playful and dreamlike.

Bajkowy (not that the lyrics are not in the order of the CD in the booklet) is a folky track with a rather joyous, bouncy melody and a large role for the flute and piano. A pleasant track, although a little short and uneventful.

The first one and half minute of Gleboka Rzeka is rather pleasant, but after a short silence the music comes back in force. Up-tempo progressive rock with a guitar sound that reminds me of Marillion and again the folky influences because of the flute. Before the first verse, the pace is taken out of the music, but during what seems to be the chorus it becomes euphoric. I have to say that in this part also the bass sound was a bit too loud and rather disturbing.

In Nocne Widziadla Emila really lets herself go with hairraising effects while the seemingly undisturbed keyboard player plays in the background. A great track that ends a little too abruptly and, again, contains echoes of Collage.

The next one Niespetnienie starts out between the stars with cosmic tapestries. It then continues with a good guitar solo and only after four minutes do we hear the first vocals. Some of the vocals on this track are almost whispered and the song has a sort of laid back jazzy sound.

The opening of Warkocze is a bit too mellow for my tastes and the song as a whole is not very memorable.

The short Bijace Serca is a sad instrumental paving the way for Plone.

Plone is with 14 minutes, the longest track on the album and offers many of the ingredients found in the other tracks of the album, such as a clear guitar sound, but also Mark Kelly-like keyboard playing (a little back in the mix). Unfortunately the singer does not come to an outburst anymore and this ensures that I cannot appreciate this song as much as I could have. As a matter of fact the track is more a string of nice melodies then anything else and as a composition it is a little weak. I always do love the sad cello though and it contains some very nice and memorable melodies.

Conclusion

A great album that can be compared to Collage's Moonshine, but is dreamier, more relaxed, and consequently less euphoric. The band plays covers of Camel and Deep Purple indicating more or less the range of their music. The instrumentation is varied with good playing and most of all great vocals. The guitar sound reminds me quite a lot of Collage as well as some of the more playful keyboard parts. Not all of the tracks are memorable and worked out, but the best tracks on the album Sanktuarium and Nocne Widziadla should be enough to warrant acquisition. A recommended debut and knowing that live they are even better....go see them if you can.