Her latest project with Samo Smetana and the guitarist Miloš Železňák is one of her most resounding. …On her album: Nothing Like the Joy, Zuzana Homolová sings briskly and with a detached yet observing eye.
Zuzana Homolová plays and sings without prejudice If her previous album I Won´t Let Your Soul Pass Away was considered the best in her career, this new release is breathing down its neck. The band bears the name Z.H.Trio and apart from the singer is comprised of the guitar player Miloš Železňák, famous for projects in various genres (rock, blues, jazz) and the violist Samo Smetana, a long-standing fellow musician of Homolová´s who took over the role of a producer on this new album. Homolová had no external co-musicians in the studio but recorded her songs as a member of a firmly established band with whom she regularly plays concerts. In this respect, the new album sounds different. …All of Homolova´s previous albums bear the traces of distinguished arrangers and producers, such as Vladimír Merta, Jiří Stivín, Vlasta Redl or Daniel Salontay from the avant-gard duet Longital in Bratislava. The trio of singer Zuzana Homolová has for several decades been well-known for her arrangements of Slovak folk ballads, In their music, and on their most recent album, they blur the artificial lines between folk, world music, chanson and renaissance music in an innovative, strikingly minimalist way. Their music bridges centuries and connects the seemingly unconnectable, discovering the jewels of forgotten folk culture and presenting them in the new light of contemporary music. The group balances between various genres and proceeds with untraditional renditions of folk ballads. While searching for the very fundamentals of the human existence, for features lurking from the subconscious of the human mind, they emphasise a concise form of the songs and stories of the past. The cooperation of musicians resulted in further unanticipated dimensions. Trojka Zuzany Homolovej – Zuzana Homolová Trio consists of her long-standing sideman Samo Smetana playing the violin and a multi-genre guitarist Miloš Železňák, well-known for his jazz, blues and rock projects. In creating her albums she has cooperated with several distinguished Czech and Slovak musicians such as Vladimír Merta, Jan Hrubý, Jiří Stivín Vlasta Redl, Daniel Salontay, Samo Smetana and others. As her albums are not released on a regular basis, every new release is welcomed as an extraordinary event. It is no wonder, that her name has become synonymous with the genre throughout Slovakia.
The lyrics' epic and cosmic vision is matched by the wonderful cover art created by Ronja Svenning Berge, who also is behind the cover art of Trojka's last album, "I speilvendthet" (2017).For years, Zuzana Homolová has been devoting her energy to creating specific renditions of folk ballads. The influence from their 70’s prog rock heroes (ELP, Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Rush, Genesis +++) is still very evident, but the Norwegian outfit adds shimmering jazz chords, a dose of contemporary alternative rock, a pitch of folk music, smooth Beatlesque harmonies and lots of love to create their own unique, creative blend of progressive pop on "Tre ut". On this record, the trio takes the listener on a cosmic musical journey both dark and delightful - ranging from funky, laidback grooves, quiet, poetic passages and wild, strangely catchy outbursts of mind-boggling prog joy. "Tre ut" is out on vinyl, CD and digitally on March 22, 2019! "Tre ut" is Trojka's second album, released by Bergen based prog label Apollon Records (who also released Trojka's last album "I speilvendthet").