Adam Bacik - Bramble

Adam Bacik 

Bramble
Mare's Nest Records; 2013

3.4 out of 5

By Eva Cantillo

The album Bramble is a debut work by young artist Adam Bacik. Sounds from the album can be described as folky and bluesy and all of the songs represent a jam vibe, which gives the album a candid and humble tone. Bacik is based out of Rockville, MD and is an immigrant to the U.S. from Slovakia. He is passionate about music and says that The White Stripes is one of his biggest influences from the music world.

The names of the songs on the album are interesting and match the sound that each emits. “The Evening Coffee Jitter” has a jumpy yet slowed-down tempo where one can actually feel the caffeine bubbling in the blood stream preventing one from falling asleep. The twanging guitar on “Hearthstone Honey” is really southern and sounds like a track from a do-si-do get-down party.

Bacik is a solo-artist and he claims that Bramble is a “rough” work. The pureness and perhaps coarseness of the album follows suit with the genre and it feels like a real work of art. A humble jam is what the song “On Blind Dog’s Field” is, the gentle guitar patterns that coincide with each other to present a dusky day out in a big open field down south, with perhaps an unsightly dog running through it…. There even seems to be a creak from someone opening a door during a recording on “Unawares,” perhaps the reasoning behind the title. The last song on the track is perhaps an ode to the artist’s motherland, the track “Hviezdoslav” is slow and a bit somber, a real expression of Bacik’s talent for blues.

Bramble is a good ole collection of songs that can be played around a campfire or illuminate the inside of your room with warm, earthen southern tones. Bacik showcases his talents and potential as a young artist, in both skill and creativity in his album Bramble.