Eddie Vedder
Ukelele Songs

THE REVIEW

The ukulele is a small Hawaiian instrument, similar to a miniature guitar, played by plucking its strings very quickly. It produces a metallic and double sound.

In the hands of Eddie Vedder this small tool becomes an instrument for exploring the human soul, its deepest corners, where silence reigns supreme and joy and pain are condensed into a sublime state of waiting. The Pearl Jam frontman, former grunge man, confirms with this work and after the splendid soundtrack of "Into the Wild", his intimate and poetic vocation.

It consists of 16 pieces, almost all no longer than 3 minutes, none of which stand out particularly more than the others, but all are pieces of this soft and whispered monologue into the listener's ear. The characteristic sound of the ukulele intertwines with the splendid voice of Eddie, one of the most beautiful and distinctive in the history of rock, giving life to this very original sound.

Compared to Into the Wild, all the other instruments are completely missing, the arrangements practically do not exist, and everything is entrusted to voice and ukulele. A very beautiful and very intimate work, to be listened to while reading a book or sipping a drink by candlelight. Simplicity, especially in music, does not coincide with banality, and music is not just technical expertise or an assembly of well-executed sounds, but also and above all the ability to describe moods and to communicate an idea clearly.

In this work Eddie Vedder makes clear his current musical and existential stage: that of reflection, which determines the desire to explore the feelings and impulses of the soul, never excessively or exaggeratedly, but with an absolute balance and sobriety without ever yielding to the most pathetic sentimentality or forms of decadence.

A single man with a tiny instrument can do better than 10 great musicians... if he then has that voice... enjoy listening.