Julia Rover - What about you? [The Very Polish Cut Outs]

Born in Żary and currently based in Poznań, Julia Rover is a singer, songwriter, and DJ. She has been active in the music scene for several years, recording several tracks, performing numerous concerts, and collaborating with other artists on various productions. All of this has inevitably led her to this moment: her debut EP.

“Co z Tobą” (“What’s up with you?”) is the first completely original and sample-free release in the label's catalog, launching The Very Polish Originals series.

This record tells a story on multiple levels. The lyrics speak of relationships, emotions, questions, dilemmas, disappointments, and hopes. Of cold breakups and passionate reunions. The musical part is also a form of narration, only expressed through other means. Each song dialogues with the lyrics, vocal style, and performance, creating a sound environment that reinforces the message.

The EP opens with “Co z Tobą?”, which moves in a mood of coldwave-inspired basslines. Then follows “Sen” (“Dream”) with a sound closer to eighties synth-pop. Afterwards, “Oddech” (“Breath”) arrives at a slower tempo, with influences of Italo and its more recent variant, neo-Italo. Although the record delves into references from three or four decades ago, its approach is not nostalgic, but a contemporary reinterpretation, in tune with the label's identity, which has been rescuing the best of music history for years.

The fourth and final track on the record slows down even further, becoming a dark, psychedelic, and leftfield ballad, slowly floating towards the 90s. And there it seems to conclude. But it's worth reaching the end, because as an unexpected epilogue, the track “Co z Tobą?” returns in a more danceable version, with an acid and vibrant feel. As it began, so it ends. Only with more intensity.