Jernej Zoran’s “Watching The World Go By” Feels Like a Sunlit Window on a Sunday Morning

You’ll definitely know when an artist poured their soul when their music feels less like a performance and more like a shared moment. That’s Jernej Zoran’s “Watching The World Go By”, and it leaves you with something to hold onto as if it knows the weight of the things you carried through.

Hailing from Novo Mest, Slovenia’s leading blues-rock guitarist Jernej Zoran is back with his seventh album since 2012. With 10 tracks in total, the veteran musician gives you Watching The World Go By, a mosaic built on wisdom and lived experiences.

Some open their album with spectacle and volume but Zoran begins with the barest statement, Take Off Your Mask. There’s no drama, only a grounded, stripped-down acoustic line that creates space for reflection rather than complexities. The lyrics offer gentleness and honesty as much as its arrangement singing, “it’s time to awaken from within.” It’s not preachy, allowing you to sit comfortably with your thoughts instead of fighting it. It’s the kind of song that earns your attention because of its sincerity.

Whatever the first track established is quickly torn down by All They Say All They Do with its upbeat percussion and guitars. Instead of reflection, Zoran offers something bolder, a form of resistance against people who try to dim your light. His vocals charge with grit and urgency, the kind that cuts above the weight of other people’s doubts and words, telling you to move forward when everything feels bleak, gloomy, or even when your dream feels worlds apart. And when he says, “don’t worry, it’s alright,” you get this kind of assurance that surpasses mere optimism.

Watching The World Go By opens like wind in the grass fields. Think of an exhale, not from frustration but from finally choosing not to stress about tomorrow. The acoustic strings are in their barest form, the one that feels intimate and hand-woven instead of leaning to gloss and precision. And the gentleness doesn’t end there because Zoran sings like he’s already content to simply exist in the moment, urging you to take your time because it’s yours to begin with.

Free feels less like a song and more of a vision with its guitars that soar with hope and passion. This honestly feels like a dream with no grand metaphors or a promise for a better world, only a childlike wish for kinder, better days and believing it will come despite all.

The album ends with (In Me You’ll) Live Forever that offers atmospheric, bold guitar riffs but later on transforms into something quiet and hopeful. There’s no lyrics, only a layer of instruments that breathes when words aren’t enough to describe a feeling. It’s like a memory translated into a sound to wrap up the chapter this whole collection opened.

This album definitely offers a seamless blend of rock, blues, and pop edges. It’s as if Pink Floyd, Queen, and The Beatles watched the same skies at the same time and played the guitar to translate how peace feels. But the best part? The sound is entirely Zoran’s. Every touch on the string breathes and speaks, the kind that came from years of living, playing, and experimenting instead of chasing polish and trends.

And it doesn’t end with his prolific guitar playing because his lyricism hits just as deep. If his sound captures your attention, his storytelling will make you stay a little longer with the way he makes you feel. And honestly, it’s almost impossible to write something like this without empathy, patience, or a life that’s truly lived.

Jernej Zoran’s Watching The World Go By offers a breather in a pool of loud, superficial collections. It’s for everyone who wants music like a sunlit window on a Sunday morning where everything feels calm and quietly hopeful.