Barista – Open Sesame Vol 2: Press Rewind
If you don’t know who the Turkish musician Bahadir Han Eryilmaz, better known as Barista, is, you should go search him on Google or Youtube right now, because his latest album, Open Sesame Vol 2: Press Rewind has been released this June 4th, and it sounds amazing– better than I expected, to be honest, and I didn’t know who he was until a moment ago (which is why I love the internet). This album is part of a 26-track anthology album called Open Sesame, so it looks like we will have a lot of Barista for a long time.
In this latest album, Open Sesame Vol 2: Press Rewind, Barista works and collaborates with some of his favorite musicians: Simon Phillips, drummer of Toto and his biggest idol, on drums; Jesse Siebenberg from Supertramp on guitars, Brian Duffy, who worked with Lady Gaga, Velvet Revolver and the titanic Guns n’ Roses, on vocals, and Lydia Salnikova from Bering Strait also on vocals. All the tracks from this anthology are engineered by Jason Mariani who has worked with Mumford & Sons and Kenny Loggins.
Let’s talk about the album. First off, the front cover; the covers shows us a desert-like landscape with what looks like a lava river on the right and a blue sky. It reminds me of the first album of Audioslave, and, for an unknown reason, it also reminds me of Mike Oldfield’s first album, Tubular Bells. Both albums show us a similar landscape below a blue sky; and mainly because of that, I really liked the album cover.
Instrumentally, it sounds very smooth, despite all instruments being recorded live. The drums are great, but with Phillips behind the kit, you obviously know it will sound majestic, Although the percussion sounds both heavy and soft at the same time, the balance is absolutely perfect, almost as if Phillips was born to play with Barista. Barista’s vision complements Phillips’ pitch-perfect drumming.
The guitars are so clean that they make me believe that this album is from the 70s or 80s; I always say that the best music of all-time was recorded and released in that era. They sounded like something that bands like Boston, Fleetwood Mac, Wings would do, and they are known for a very polished sound.
The vocals are the driving force in this album. Lydia and Duffy are a terrific duo, producing great melodies throughout the album-–melodies that will bring you a great feeling of peace. Duffy’s raspy tone and Lydia’s clean and talented voice compliment each other in every song, a perfect collaboration, to be honest.
And what about the songs? Well, all of them are fantastic! “Start” surprised me because Lydia is the lead singer on this one, and it’s safe to say that it’s one of my favorites. But if I have to pick one, I would pick “Nothing Left,” because it’s the “heaviest” or “most rock-sounding” track in the album. I like heavy music, so it is an easy pick for me. It was the one that surprised me the most, but “Haze” has the catchiest chorus of all of them.
Open Sesame Vol. 2: Press Rewind is the first Barista album I have listened to, and it was much better than I expected. It’s an arena rock album that a lot of people should listen to, because it has that formula that everyone likes: catchy chorus, great instrumental parts and introspective, deep lyrics. I can only hope that Open Sesame Vol. 3 will live up to the high standards that this one set.
–Kevin Tanza
