This singer sounds like a drunk John Lennon. Like, really drunk.
Listen here!
I was totally on board with this song for the first 51 seconds. Ambient synths, a jazzy bass line, and a chill clarinet melody over the top. I was thinking, “Wow, this really DOES sound like 1925, in a way!” And then the vocals came in, and this song jumped the shark. It’s one thing to emulate a Prohibition-era speakeasy with bass lines and clarinets, but when your singer ACTUALLY sounds drunk, maybe you should reevaluate. At 3:23, they go full on big band, and it sounds like Glenn Miller resurrected from the grave via an intense electrical storm. Franken-Miller.
The band, The Nijinsky Style, has a website, but it appears to be in German with no translation available. I guess if they are German, maybe that’s why the singer sounds a bit inebriated? Do I sound drunk when I sing in German? (Probably.) Their Facebook page describes them as “Urban electrified waltz, tango, and chanson.” Sure, we’ll go with that. The group was founded in 1988 by Andy Schwarz and Tina Sanudakura, and they appear to still be active, occasionally touring and releasing music. This album, Memories to Come, was released in 1992 and represents some of their early works. There’s no mention of the inspiration for their name, but could it be a tribute to Vaslav Nijinsky, the Russian ballet dancer and choreographer from the early- to mid-20th century?
The more I listen to the other tracks on this album, the more I’m starting to enjoy “urban electrified waltz, tango, and chanson.” It sounds like someone tossed an electric guitar, Astor Piazzola (the Argentine tango composer), a DVR full of Dancing With the Stars, Johann Strauss (Jr., the “King of Waltz”), and a 5th of absinthe into a blender. This takes fusion to the next level — it’s more like a musical smoothie, melding together a truckload of different concepts and styles.
