Sasha Boole — Too old to sell my soul (2020)

Sasha Boole's fourth full-length album was released today. We'll tell you how it differs from the previous one and why you should not postpone listening to it. 

Cheerful chanting of the themes not funny, with a total seriousness and variable laugh breaks into the cloth of same days - serious, a bit absurd, but the only ones we have.

April was rich with single releases from Sasha Boole, which preceded his new album "Too old to sell my soul" outing. First for three years, this full format album is a product of DIY culture as was recorded with the portative studio and Dniester inspirational calmness only.

The album starts with the eponymous song, video to which came out in April. Written in the best traditions of DIY last summer, it exactly defines the format of this album’s recording process:

"I recorded [...] (the song - edit.) using 8-channel portative studio and two microphones. Except the keyboards and applauding, everything is recorded by first take. That’s why it is almost a live with the minimum of post-editing. It’s debut for me as the "bedroom producer", when absolutely everything: from collecting to mastering, I’ve made by myself."

Monotonous and predictable in its sound "Too old to sell my soul" is literal expression of the author’s thoughts about soul selling for bigger success than it is now. As Sasha Boole already had such a chance - to get boost of popularity by taking part in Eurovision - this issue is familiar to him not from others’ words, but from own experience. This composition is the work of one motive. Only in the end of it simple guitar playing is replaced by comic-gothic sound of an electro organ presence.

In April there was "Music to watch the world dying" appeared on the internet - the song, written two years ago. And it is noticeable, because there’s nothing like it in the whole new album. The depth of this composition relates it to the previous album "Golden Tooth", also such mood, also its melodic. Boole himself stated it to be "one of the best" compositions he’d ever created, and it’s hard not to agree.

New to the listeners "Werewolf" song starts with an audiotape from the retro cinematography, then moving to the playful performance manner, depicting drunk claiming of two werewolf-bros over the alcohol shots. One of them, by the way, is Gera Luidze - vocalist and contrabass player from The HYPNOTUNEZ jazz band. There are English and Ukrainian languages organically uniting in the track, as Boole’s prononciation doesn’t really changes. Back-vocals, following the full album, seem to be some kind of ghost embodiment of the souls that share the mentioned feelings. That’s how those various souls through the howling express their agreement with the words Boole spoken for the many in the "Werewolf" song.

Lyrically the same thing continues in the composition "Equal". The question of equality is accompanied by the low acoustics sound, which totally fulfills St. Lazarus church. There exactly Boole’s vocals, surrounded by looks of saints and the strings, had rosen up to the ethereal heights. Recording of this album’s track proceeded with the contribution of Lviv Golka Studio.

"Там буде ніж" track saw the world on the 4th of May on Patreon platform. Composition is much alike to the Ukrainian folklore song genre from the beginning, as lyrically - the motive of betrayal, picturing the bloody sunset, wind howling, as by long-drown vocal.

"Widowmaker" is the unusual one inside this album - slow, with the locked between the bits guitar which goes into total noise by the end of it. This is an experiment of the release, something more brave than good old blues tendency.

There comes "Ocean" as the change, dreamy, with emphatic warm chords, that together with the words of it takes you to the element nearby which all this music was written. Last track of the album "Зі смертю під вінець" stands out by the rich though simple banjo sound. And till the very end this simplicity, created long before him, such one that differs from artist to artist, is held by Boole. Because rather it is banjo or acoustic guitar, instruments are not striving for self-cognition, remaining devoted to the habitual tricks. It happened so, that cooperation between Me and That Man band & Sasha Boole became the line of demarcation of his tactics:
"The songs that would need richer arrangement I’ve written for the MATM, but pure singer-songwriter acoustic stories I’ve left for myself." (link)

Difference between this and the previous album, on the distance of three years from each other, is clear from the very first notes. "Too old to sell my soul" seems to be tougher lyrically, but much more careless in its narration manner about the things difficult, sad, real or made up. More simple instrumentally than the previous one, now it matches more the desires of musician himself, according to his words. Here musician absolutely avoids the bass guitar’s help, which outlined the compositions’ contour in "Golden Tooth". But concentration came to the harmonica, which is sometimes the only servant to get free the emotions, choked by scepsis and time, it sings out the things impossible to put into words. And in general this release is the worthy continuation of such path creative, lasting from the 2014th and for now till the Dniester delta. 

LP at streaming services

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Sasha Boole / Саша Буль — songwriter from Chernivtsi, country/folk performer who plays many musical instruments. His active touring activity began only in 2014, but the number of concerts played has already exceeded several hundred. The musician has several full-length albums, one of which was released on vinyl by the Ukrainian label AbyShoMusic, and many singles. Since 2018, Sasha Boole is also a member of the Polish dark country band Me and That Man.

Sasha Boole in social networks:

Bandcamp: https://sashaboole.bandcamp.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sashabooleofficial
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sasha-boole
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_boole/