Rock Monsters Romania

Text by Ionela Pleșan

Do you know that feeling when you find your state of peace? That’s what happened to me with Andra Andriucă and Paul Tihan.

Despite my desire to project toughness and invincibility, the reality is that I’m not naturally like that; it’s merely a facade constructed through years of consistent effort. Andra and Paul appeared in my life when I was the most vulnerable version of myself so far. I discovered them in January, and at first I was very skeptical. Should I set aside metalcore and growling to listen to music talking about feelings so well explained? Well, apparently, that’s exactly what I needed, and I realized that what I initially did was a very poor description of what I felt and needed to see or hear.

Photo by Luca Priscornic

I don’t know about you, the one reading this, but I always had to be the first to get everything right and know better; otherwise, I wouldn’t be myself. The perfect child with high grades who doesn’t leave the house and just reads and doesn’t talk to anyone. I think I was a perfect teenager for my parents. What they didn’t realize is that within me, there was growing anger and a search that still persists at 23, and this ongoing search led me one day in January to Andra Andriucă. She seemed like a sensitive girl, another one who sings about how her boyfriend left her, but apparently it’s not about that, and Andra approaches different themes and does it from another perspective. I got tired of endless songs where she cries for him, looks for him, or tells him she’s still waiting for him. I didn’t find that with Andra. With her, there’s a search at the beginning of the journey, a search that apparently was or has been full of tears but also of smiles and unforgettable mistakes. I like this girl because she’s true to herself and to those who listen to her. She doesn’t lie to you, she doesn’t sugarcoat things, she tells you directly what she feels and thinks. Yes, somehow she’s sweet and doesn’t cut everything off directly and tell you to your face, but she makes you think. I love Andra, and I don’t know where she manages to get the music she makes from. Sometimes I wonder if she’s reading my mind,and that’s where her inspiration comes from,writing about what she sees in there, but apparently I’m not the only one who feels the things that seem unique to me and are only mine. As if I’m the only weird one who feels those things or sees different situations in that way. I’m really curious how Andra writes her songs, both the lyrics and the melody, but this curiosity is probably for another article.

I discovered Paul Tihan through Andra, and I admit that at first, I didn’t like him. He seemed like another guy singing about feelings, and I got tired of that kind of artist. I’m fed up with guys who sing about feelings and all the girls swoon over them because they express their emotions and sing about it, but when a girl does it, it’s not as significant and wow just because she’s a girl and girls talk about feelings and guys, generally, don’t. Wow, guys have feelings too and sing about them, fantastic, but as I kept listening to him, my obsession with Paul Tihan grew, and now I don’t leave the house without listening to his song “Călătoria” at least once. At first, when I saw Paul, it seemed unfair to me that he seemed to be more important than her, and I don’t want to lie, so I admit that I also thought about the fact that he’s a man and that’s why he’s more important than a woman. But as I continued to listen to them and did my homework about them, I discovered that they are actually equals. Each of them tells a different story even if they may address the same themes, but what comes out is totally different. I’ve developed a habit, I don’t know if it’s healthy or not, it depends on how I feel on that particular day, what I feel and how I dose my emotions, but the day starts with “Călătoria” by Paul Tihan, and during the day, if I need encouragement, even if it sounds sad, I turn to Andra Andriucă, and in the evening when I calm down, I let Paul sing around the house while I do my chores or sit and meditate on the day.

Why did I write all this introduction?

I felt the need. I felt the need to unload and put into words at least a small percent of what these people make me feel. Andra Andriucă is an artist from Iași who addresses different themes that should interest all of us, but Andra Andriucă is not just her, it’s also her band, a band she shares with Paul Tihan. Namely Ciprian Onița on piano, Codrin Pălimaru on bass, Vlad Lazăr on guitar, Cătălin Ionescu on guitar, Călin Andrei on drums ,Daniel Leancă on cello, Ștefan Aftene on sound, Tommy Chiroșca on lights, Cristian Chirilă, and Luca Priscornic on photo video. If I missed anyone, please forgive me, but there’s a whole family involved here, literally, Andra’s brother takes care of the merch.

I found myself in what these two artists sing from the beginning, and I haven’t done that with new music I’ve discovered for a very long time. Everyone seems to follow a well-written recipe. Singles that resemble each other, an album or EP, a tour around the country, and then they disappear. With Andra and Paul, it’s totally different. They sing about what they felt or feel, and I’m really curious about the creative process behind it; this could be a beautiful and fruitful discussion with Paul and Andra. I’m weary of individuals who simply echo the words or actions of others, and when confronted with the similarity, they either become upset or deny its accuracy. With Andra Andriucă, it’s about indie with accents on edges, and with Paul Tihan, it’s poetry rock that really amazes you when you see it live.

When did I see them live for the first time?

I saw them live for the first time on February 24th, opening for Om la Lună at Palatul Bragadiru in Bucharest. It was an experience from finding the ticket to the whole show. The concert was sold out long before they announced the opening act, so I armed myself with patience and started looking for a ticket. Everyone seemed to have 2 tickets and wanted to give them to a couple, and since it was February 24th, in Romania is celebrated as “Dragobete,” akin to Valentine’s Day, where people exchange gifts and affectionately embrace, marking the arrival of spring. I can’t say I didn’t feel discriminated against because they didn’t want to give it to me as a single person, but I moved on, and two days before the show, I found someone who gave up on the idea of giving the tickets to a couple. So, I managed to get a ticket for Om la Lună at Palatul Bragadiru. It seems that loneliness also wins something sometimes. Arriving there among all the people who were 30 plus, I felt awkward even though I also listened to Om la Lună and I like them, I had never seen their specific target audience, and I felt like an extra. Everyone was holding hands with someone; there were children there, and there I was trying to see something on stage. 

The first one on stage was Andra Andriucă with her guitar alongside Ciprian Onița on the piano. As far as I listened to her on Spotify, and she always made me pensive, I had the chance to listen to her live, and it did not disappoint. Even though the audience was mainly there for Om la Lună and they were noisy and inattentive, I was there mainly to listen to her. I cherish people who talk about themselves the way Andra does in her songs, so I was the crazy one screaming lyrics and filming everything. I sang, I cried, and I was proud of the person in front of me for managing to express their emotions and serve them to others on a platter. It was an “aha” moment for me. It gave me the courage and will to try again and move forward in a very difficult period for me. 

Photo by Ruxandra Scripcariu

After my voice left slowly, along with every drop of tears, Paul Tihan followed by Daniel Leancă on the cello. I was very excited about the cello. I grew up with double bass concerts and chamber music, so seeing another instrument that reminded me of home was just what I needed. That was the moment when I realized that Paul had something of his own, and it wasn’t quite what I initially thought. Yes, he’s a man who sings about emotions, so what? The cliché will always be there, but the most important nuance is how he presents the issue and approaches the music. It’s evident that he’s very sincere and truly feels what he’s singing. Paul continued his performance, pressing every button that I thought I had muted for a long time. It was a short concert, being the opening act for Om la Lună, but it was exactly what I needed during that very loaded period of my life.

Photo by Ruxandra Scripcariu

I then saw them at Control Club in Bucharest at the Welcoming Tour, their first concert of the tour, and I was impressed by everyone who was with them. They brought everything with them, lights, sound, photo-video, a bunch of people on stage, and Control was packed to the brim for a Tuesday in the Concrete Series. I was so happy to see them happy and how they enjoyed every person who applauded or smiled.

Why was I so happy? 

Because their music is already a coping mechanism for me. The concert at Control was as it should be, but what struck me from the moment I arrived there was the guy at the merch stand. I had seen online what cool merch Andra and Paul had made for the Welcoming Tour, and I was really curious and felt exactly like in that meme with “shut up and take all of my money.” The guy at the merch stand came with an energy I had never encountered in Bucharest before. Everyone was in a rush, but he had time and seemed to enjoy telling you about 2 candles for half an hour, and it didn’t stop there; if he caught you near the stand again, he would start over. I really needed that energy, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t steal some of it for the days after the concert. 

Paul had guitar solos that I didn’t see coming, with an exceptional-sounding cello. I stayed glued to the front of the stage next to the cello the whole concert. I remembered how it was at home during concerts in the high school auditorium and how I always wondered how they managed to make the instrument sound like that. The concert at Control was a success. Everyone seemed satisfied, we even got feedback from people, and everyone was deeply impressed.

Photo by Luca Priscornic

Alright, alright, but what am I reading here?

I think you’re reading more than just a concert review. You’re reading what I truly feel about some artists I recently discovered.

Iași, March 28th

Because I wanted to get away from Bucharest and all the hustle and bustle and the thoughts in my head, I made a spontaneous decision and headed to Iași for the first time in my life. I went straight to the concert at Legend Pub by Andra Andriucă and Paul Tihan, which was wrapping up their tour across the country.

First on stage was Andra Andriucă, starting with the song “Se aude,” which was the song through which I discovered her, and she seemed like an oddity to me, singing about herself and doing it well. Finally, there was someone who called things by their name.

“Încolțește doar iubind și prin visări

O casa nouă, în care nu cresc nepăsări

Ne-ncolțește, ne-ncolțește în culori

Un drum cu flori”

I don’t know what kind of house you grew up in, but in mine, many indifferences definitely grew, extending their tendrils even today, 20-something years later, and hearing someone speak bluntly about problems and perhaps having grown beyond them is immense for me.

“Tu mă îndrumi și mă cuprinzi și nu mă lași să-mi fie rău

Tu nu mă cerți, nu mă respingi, îmi dai să cred din crezul tău”

Photo by Cristian Chirilă

For the goody-two-shoes child, as I mentioned earlier, these lyrics hit hard. I believe I’ve also met people who don’t let me feel bad, but it’s been work, ongoing work even now. The song “Noi nu ne privim” followed, and in this song, I find myself in every verse, especially in the first lines.

“Noi nu ne privim

Căci dacă am privi

Gândul s-ar împărți

Luna ar amuți”

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a concert that feels like home, but that’s how I felt in Iaşi. It was as if they were singing to me in my living room, except they had lights and sound well set up. You could see they were at home. People were shouting, singing along with the lyrics, and smiling. A crowd of couples and even children wiping and supporting the artists on stage. It felt like a concert made from the heart or at least that’s how I felt it. Well, even though there were a lot of photographers, I enjoyed that too; it was like, “Wow, they made it.” I sat and watched, amazed as someone I discovered a few months ago on Spotify managed to resonate so deeply with everyone in the audience.

Photo by Cristian Chirilă

“Liniștea nu se împarte” is Andra Andriucă’s debut album and contains six songs that are interconnected and were very well chosen to be part of this album. The album seems like a search at the beginning of a journey, with Andra’s achievements and all the moments she’s been through. It seems like an introductory album, but with a depth and sincerity that I haven’t seen and heard in a long time, especially from an artist at the beginning of their journey.

Returning to the hometown concert in Iași. Andra continued with “Ce simplu ar fi”. It’s a song that always makes me pensive, being an overthinker who has let go a little, but still with a seed of overthinking, this song hits where it should. I miss being a child who tells everyone bluntly and doesn’t hide anything of what they believe and feel, and that’s how I see this song. “Valurile cresc din frici,” but they must be overcome at some point, right?

Andra continued with a few songs that didn’t find their place on the album and haven’t been released yet, so if you want to hear them, either go to their concerts or bother them on social media to release them sooner.

The most beautiful part came with the song “Nu mă opresc.” Where the audience sang the long chorus, and even though it didn’t sound idyllic, it was an emotion that floated in the air. Everyone clung to, and the smiles and kisses felt right at home. After this superb moment, Andra continued her performance, ending with the song that gives the title to her debut album “Liniștea nu se împarte.”

Just the title should give you food for thought, and from my experience, as someone who always wants to help others and puts themselves last, I learned with difficulty that silence isn’t shared and shouldn’t be sought in others. It should be within me. Andra finished her hometown concert with a big smile on her face and her loved ones applauding her and the guys from the band to no end.

Then came Paul Tihan, who during the “Welcoming Tour” promoted his album titled “Din noile căderi am să adun tot zborul,” an album that exists because of Paul’s mother who, after listening to the song demos, said to him: “These songs have a common denominator, a clear line of language and exploration area.”

Photo by Cristian Chirilă

Paul started with “Luna pe piele,” at which point all the girls in front of the stage erupted. What did I tell you about men who sing about feelings? In the culture and world we live in, we’re used to men not talking about their feelings, and when we find one who does, we’re all excited. Well, with Paul Tihan, it’s something different. He’s not the typical cliché I mentioned above. It’s something more. He seems to speak genuinely and from experience, not just to sound good and impress the girls in front of him. The audience sang along, and it seemed like everyone was teleported to another place, especially when Daniel started playing the cello. I love to see people’s reactions when they come to a concert and encounter a more “unconventional” instrument, if you will, for a concert. Instruments like the double bass, violin, trumpet, and in this case, cello.

Photo by Cristian Chirilă

The difference between the concert in Bucharest and the one in Iaşi was felt. In Iași, both Andra and Paul seemed more confident and cohesive on stage. Experience speaks for itself. The feeling of being at home was felt, a wonderful feeling that I would like to feel, see, and hear at all the concerts I attend.

Paul continued with the songs “Alt om” and “Unul lângă celălalt”. The latter is the song where I love to scream the lyrics the most, “Căci fericirea-i ascunsă într-un salt în unul lângă celălalt”. I don’t advise you to stand next to me when I scream that because you’ll definitely lose your hearing for a few seconds, but stay there at your own risk. This song amazed me in Bucharest when I realized for real that Paul Tihan can sound like rock. With Cătălin Ionescu on guitar and Călin Andrei on drums, Paul Tihan manages to work wonders on this song. Throughout the entire poetry of the lyrics, you wouldn’t expect there to be something so hardcore from Paul Tihan.

The concert continued with the audience deeply immersed in the music, singing, dancing, and screaming; it was a feeling of being at home. Everything was going well until the song “O pană ce mângâie”, if you haven’t listened to this song, go, listen to it, and then come back to read. This is my second favorite song by Paul Tihan. “Călătoria” and “O pană ce mângâie”  are my top favorites. Why do I like this song so much? I relate so much to its lyrics, but also to its sound, a sound that seems taken from a story straight out of my mind.

“Dar când rănile moștenite

Mă țin mai strâns azi de pământ

Libertatea în cascade

Nu mă face decât să plâng”

If these verses were shorter, I would have already tattooed them on myself, but maybe I’ll make a summary of them, and who knows, one day I might. I don’t know what inherited wounds you have, but I know mine, or at least most of them, and these lyrics and this song always hit me right where it should, pressing all the dusty buttons untouched for years because I’m afraid of them. Well, someone else managed to press them with some lyrics.

“Pentru cei ce nu mai vin înapoi

Pentru pacea și durerile noi (…)

Pentru frica fără somn ce se înfășoară pe os

Pentru părinții ce trăiesc moartea unui copil”

I don’t know about you, but these lyrics can’t leave me indifferent, especially having transgenerational trauma in the family on exactly this “motif.” I don’t know if my parents will like that I’m writing this, but it’s within me somewhere and always waits to come out and scream to the surface. I listen to “O pană ce mângâie” while writing this text, and what do I do? I write, I cry, I wipe my eyes, and I continue. That’s how I manage to write about the concert, this song that has been etched in my mind since it came out and makes me feel not alone.

The concert went ”according to plan” and reached the part where Andra Andriucă joined Paul Tihan for the songs “Tu nu uita” and “Nu spune nimănui”. The whole band also appeared on stage. I don’t know how all those people fit there, 8 people on stage from Legend singing about forgetting, feelings, and being happy that they successfully finished the tour they had throughout the country.

Photo by Cristian Chirilă

The audience sang, danced, cried, laughed, bought merch, took photos, and enjoyed every moment. It was a full concert, a beautiful concert that I can’t wait to relive there at Legend, right in front of the stage near the door, maybe even behind the larger speaker box than me.

What do I recommend you do after reading this?

Listen to Paul Tihan and Andra Andriucă. Support them, share their work, follow them, and whatever else you wish. Make your gang and come to their concerts. You’ll surely find me there, and now I have other crazy friends like me to be there all the time.