The surname Pavītols is absolutely not unknown in Latvian music – Juris Pavītols is mentioned as the founder of the famous rock group “Līvi” and the later leader of the ensemble “Saime” (his song “Princesīte” was very popular at the time), while the reviewer first met his son Matīsa in the second half of the 1990s as the drummer of the group “Willow Farm” led by Emil Dreiblat. Matīs’ biography also mentions his participation in the groups “Tumsa”, “Putnu Balle” and “Walters and Kaža”, but Pavītols junior has also been seen in other projects – he is a musician with a lot of experience. Currently, Matīss has changed drums to guitar and studied vocal skills with opera singer and Latvian Academy of Music teacher Krišjānis Norvelis.
Matiss has just released his debut solo album, which includes eleven songs, most of which he wrote music and lyrics. The first single “Sapņu PVN” was released already in February, the whole album (its working title was “Drops”) was planned already in the summer, but apparently complications arose. But it’s all good. A special story is about the song “Mamm, gūsā es”, recorded in Latvian and Russian. The author of the text is said to be a Russian soldier captured by the Ukrainians. “I received a poem written as a letter to my mother from a Russian soldier. It is said that it was written in Kherson and quickly spread throughout Ukraine. I got it from a teacher in Vainode, she – from someone in Zaporizhia. I have attached the music and I am sending it back, hoping that it will reach him and that he can spread this song. That is why the song is in two languages”, says Matīss Pavītols. “I had to fight an internal battle to read this poem without prejudice and to discover that the poem is about the Ukrainian people, humanity, faith and not giving up. She says that whatever the enemy does, her people will remain strong and continue to be themselves. The doctor, who is one of the characters in the poem, is a physical representation of the character of Ukraine. Despite the unimaginable abuse, he treats the injured killer.
“Sapņu PVN” was recorded in the recording studio “Factory Sounds Studio”, the producers are Matīss Pavītols, Gints Stankevičs and Roberts Dinters.
“The album was made over a long period of time. Each of them has its own story and feeling, so organizing them into a common block was not so easy. It’s like children or relatives: everyone is one family, but everyone is different, even special. That’s why the album is like life, which includes topics from relationships, love and children to pain, death and war,” says Matīss Pavītols. It should be noted that the album also includes a cover of the popular hit “Mans zēns” by the group “Saime”.
PAR. Changing the profile from drummer to “frontman” is nothing new – the most visible example in the world is Phil Collins of “Genesis”, here is Andris Ārglis, but the case of Matīs Pavītolas is still noteworthy, because today one can hear who worked hard on his vocal and guitar skills. Of the sound material included in the album, the memorable “Sapņu PVN” should be praised, the cover of “Mans zēns” was also very successful, but the biggest surprise for the reviewer was “Go Get Now” – a quality piece westerns .
VERSUS. It’s hard to imagine the audience that “Sapņu PVN” could be interested in, not in the form of single singles, but as a single album – it must be doubted that there are few of them. The album is so stylistically fragmented that it doesn’t read as a whole – for example, how can the aforementioned “Go Get Now” (by the way, the only English piece) with the intro “A-ha” “Driplets” , the playful radio hit “See how everything is” with the ballad “Mono” etc., but also a song dedicated to the theme of Ukraine?! Anything. However, Pavītols junior is excellent at one thing: as we know, music is also a subjective concept, and in this list of subjective reviewers of the most obnoxious and annoying Latvian songs, “Redz, kā stāvu viss” consistently takes second place (behind the silly “Rēderejas” by Sergej Jēger). Also, it seems Pavitola’s “Mūsu meitas” is claiming third place.
