Sat 31/1 20:00
Jiří Imlauf • Ondřej Kyas

Solo projects by two distinctive figures of the Czech independent music scene – Jiří Imlauf (formerly Houpací koně) and Ondřej Kyas from the band Květy.
After the Ústí-based band Houpací koně ended its activities in 2021, their singer and guitarist Jiří Imlauf decided to continue on his own. The repertoire for his solo album took shape slowly; the words and melodies of some songs searched for their form for several years. The basic tracks were recorded at Birdland Studio in Slovakia under the production of Tomáš Neuwerth, producer and musician (Lu, Nierika, Kittchen, Tata Bojs). By chance, Imlauf then met guitarist and keyboard player of the Brno band Květy, Ondřej Kyas, and a few shared performances soon grew into an intense collaboration.
The album was given a simple but striking name – Teď (Now). The characters in the songs focus mainly on small things. Perhaps because the big ones have already slipped away. Perhaps because they no longer dare to reach for them. We don’t know what they’ve been through, but we sense that another spark, another moment of giving themselves away, might be too much to bear. The record brings a different kind of songwriting and a different poetic tone than what defined Houpací koně – it is an album full of small pleasures. And in just a few melancholic lines, Imlauf manages to show how every small, slowly savoured delight hides a heavy sadness underneath.
At Divadlo 29, Imlauf will perform with the accompaniment of Ondřej Kyas (Květy) and cellist Jiří Šedivec (Není Němý, Nauzea Orchestra).

The evening will be opened by Ondřej Kyas. He is known mainly as a multi-instrumentalist and co-author of the music of the band Květy, but also as a prominent theatre and opera composer. This year he introduced the ambitious project Nahrávání světa (Recording the World), in which he combines field recordings, intimate melodies and sonic experimentation. The result is a personal diary and an unusual sonic journey – something between a song and silence.