Ballads at the End of Time

It's the morning after the apocalypse and (assuming you've survived) where are you? How are you feeling? That's the idea behind this disc. Boris Kovac is one of the most creative musicians to come out of Serbia, and his music breaks out of the gypsy/village ghetto to which most Balkan sounds are consigned. The second part of his "La Danza Apocalypsa Balcanica Project" shows the quieter, reflective, more rustic and impressionistic side of Kovac. The music on Boris Kovac & Ladaaba Orchestra's Ballads at the End of Time is slow and lovely. It isn't so much about devastation as new hope, although something like the gorgeously wistful "Colour Of Remembrance" looks back, not forward. However, is there anything to look forward to? Possibly not, if the closing track, "At The End Of Time," is to be believed. But if that is the end, we all go out gracefully, on a wave of music. Don't try and categorize this music; it simply won't fit into any pigeonhole. Traces of classical, jazz, gypsy, and more meld in the sonorities as the dogs bark. A wonderful record to make you think about life — and what could be in our future.