SECOND HAND MAN

The legend of Polish rock, Wojciech Korda, once compared A.J. Kaufmann to such big songwriters as Donovan, Bob Dylan or Frank Zappa. Certainly, you can add Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits to this group, although Kaufmann's youthful vocal stands in stark opposition to both ballad masters, because a large part of the ballads from the group of 12 original songs filling the album "Second Hand Man" is in typical for them, calm and dark style, with a slightly "lazy" approach. Some of the songs ("White Lady", "A Lesson In Love") are kept in a muted, almost minimalist style (guitar plus voice), some have the form of more complex sounds including synthesizers and drum machine (such as "Just For Love","Me And My Little Mademoiselle"), in some of them, like in "There's A Sign", the harpsichord buzzes pleasantly in the background, while at other times the accordion ("Curtain Song") unexpectedly takes over the main instrumental role. Kaufmann's duets with Anka Hołowiecka are also rather nice (especially on "White Lady" and "The Night Has Come"). Sometimes it gets very rocky ("Second Hand Man", "Just For Love"), sometimes psychedelic ("The Night Has Come", "The Claw"), and sometimes almost club-like ("The Wistful Song"). Overall, this album is a thing for lovers of chamber, ballad music, fans of the "singer / songwriter music" genre, to listen to after dark, in the silence of a late evening.