With an opening built on a strangely haunting violin/viola wail, there’s a surprising relief when the drums and piano start in “Saving It All.” Then comes Christopher Sluka’s voice and lyrics, with an emotional weight that’s difficult to place. The song is a profoundly human, sad song about watching the world from the perspective of outer space, seeing it all at once, and wondering about its possibilities. Musically, the song is airy and spacious, but the lyrics are heavy and carry a vocal gravitas that’s difficult to describe.
The Experience of Thirteen Albums
It takes the experience of a vocalist like Sluka to pull it off. This is the first single of his next studio album, Cautionary Yell, his fourteenth album. Sluka’s motto is, “Reven in your time with the horrors of your wonderful life,” and his music tends to be somber. His fans won’t be surprised that he’s taken on such elegantly thoughtful themes. Still, after thirteen albums of work, Sluka has the power to catch listeners off guard with his themes, bold lyrics, and emotional energy.
The Band Behind the Name
Sluka’s had a long, strange history. He first earned fame in Japan, where the Japanese record label insisted he name his band just “Sluka” for their two-album deal. He succeeded enough in signing an agreement with Time Warner to record there in Europe. After that, he returned to the US and launched his label, Steel Flower Music, where he could put out his albums and call his band whatever he wanted. He continues to call the band just Sluka; however, he joined “Saving It All,” by bassist Anna Eppnik and drummer Michael Bedard.
Anna Eppnik was also part of Sluka’s 2019 album, Ready to Connect. “Anna has a very unique style. She comes up with bass parts I never would have thought of,” Sluka says. “And she influences me greatly through our endless discussions of life on this planet.”
The Inspiration of Flight
Much of the track is inspired by the feeling of flight. Sluka opened a flight school in 2010. “For me, flying and music are very similar,” he says. “They both feel like magic and it’s incredible that human beings are able to do them both. They follow checklists. Mistakes can have dire consequences. They require lots of study, practice, and repetition. And yet no two flights are the same and no two musical performances are the same.”
Despite the similarities, Sluka’s approach to music is much looser than his approach to flight. He doesn’t write music so much as he lets the music happen. “I can hear the arrangement, structure, and the lyrics,” he says, “So, that’s when I sit down at the piano or guitar and begin to make a demo in my home studio.”
An Emotional Single
Along with the structure and lyrics, “Save It All,” must have come with a heavy emotional moment in the studio. Sluka has said of his past lyrical styling that he was “desperately trying to be optimistic in the face of impending doom,” which also resonates with this latest single. There’s a long, storied career of emotion and musical development in Sluka’s many albums. Any music fan who has never heard of Sluka has a lot of music to catch up on, but that can be an exciting journey.
