When you think of Croatia, you don’t immediately think of the blues. But listening to Croatian musician Nebojsa Buhin’s third album Guitar Language I start to wonder why not. Because reading between the tracks, one sentence keeps popping up: Croatians have soul.

Still, blues tend to make me feel bad before they make me feel better – they make me feel bad to make me feel better. Buhin’s jazzy guitar riffs aren’t like that: I skip the bad and go right to the better. There’s something very positive about the shimming sounds of an electric guitar backed by congas and tambourines, and though the artist is Croatian, the music feels familiar.

Give Guitar Language a try when you need a smooth little pick-me-up, a cheerful noise at the end of a hard day.

Favorite Track: “Get Over It”