Pete Kosanovich - Pete Kosanovich

  by Harry Sherriff

published: 26 / 3 / 2013

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Pete Kosanovich is a Serb-born solo artist currently residing in London who has been gaining label interest from Rough Trade. Having learned piano by age of four and the violin at the age of six, it is hard to disagree that Kosanovich is a natural born musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist with some fine influences in Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. The problem with this record is clear: 18 tracks is too many for an album. Especially a debut album. It’s too many for the simple fact it adds a lot more pressure onto the artist. If it’s a three-hour film, it better be 'The Godfather'. If it’s a 1000 page novel, it better be Tolstoy. An aspect that grabbed my attention is that Kosanovich recorded the album in single takes. A retro style of sound recording that is one of the album’s biggest strengths. It is a shame I had to wait six tracks in to hear Kosanovich play piano; this definitely should have come earlier on the record to break things up. By track four you’re already getting that ‘samey’ vibe every musician is afraid of. There are some very ropey vocals at times but you’ve also got to respect him because his vocal tracks seem bare, which is a rarity in the music industry. These days everything is over produced. Eight tracks in and due to the similar feel to each song I thought of calling it a day but struggled on. An acoustic artist who plays harmonica without lead guitar, bass or drums can become a test of endurance. Whilst researching Kosanovich, I was surprised to find although he is clearly very self-motivated he hardly has any videos on the innternet. All I could find were two videos. One of these was a very rough live one on his Facebook that does him no favours and a the other a thirty second clip of him performing a few years back. Surely a solo-artist trying to be noticed by the industry should be making more use out of this amazing platform. I believe the raw materials are there for Kosanovich to become a decent solo-artist in a couple of years. He desperately needs a band, time to develop lyrically and access to a good studio/producer combination but there is definitely something there. Throwing eighteen tracks on a self-titled debut album wasn’t the best move. It all seems rushed and not thought through enough. If Kosanovich had chosen the strongest six songs, my first impression of him would have been completely different. Comparisons to Dylan and Pete Doherty are overly flattering to Kosanovich, the similarities beginning and ending with the fact all three can play the guitar. Ultimately eighteen tracks comes across self-indulgent. As a whole, however, it is undeniably a good showcase of what Kosanovich can produce with very little backing and maybe that is what the purpose of this record was. Next time though, less quantity, more quality.

Track Listing:-

1 Winter Train
2 Get Down and Ride
3 The Falling Rain
4 One of You
5 For Young and Old
6 About a Place to Know
7 I Promise
8 What the Answer Would Be
9 West Virginia or Nashville Town
10 Hunny Don't You Cry
11 Louelle
12 Digging in the Dirt
13 When Sundown Takes You Home

Band Links:-

http://musicbypete.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/PeteMusic/
https://twitter.com/petekmusician

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