Jakob Kobal

Jakob Kobal is a Slovenian singer-songwriter who grew up in Idrija and writes and sings in English. His songs are melancholic and poetic, and Slovenian radio has called him Idrija's own Ben Howard, although he prefers to think of his music as a band's work rather than a lone songwriter's.

He started out as a bass player on the local punk scene. He then moved to Nova Gorica for secondary school, and when he was given a guitar in his second year he began writing songs; soon afterwards he left school to give himself fully to music. His first single, "Cloudless Skies" (2016), recorded with his cousin Kaja Tokuhisa on vocals and saxophonist Nace Kogej, became one of the most played songs of the year on Radio Val 202 and opened the door to festivals for new artists. It also brought him together with the producer Peter Penko, who made his first album with him.

His third concert ever was at Eurosonic Noorderslag in the Netherlands, an early breakthrough abroad, and he later played Waves Vienna. After moving to Ljubljana and then Koper, he gathered a group around him, called Imaginary Friends, with musicians such as Danijel Bogataj of Fed Horses, and in spring 2019 released the debut album Cloudless. Its videos include "Towards the Sea", "Fly Away" and "GoodMinds", and the single "Mother" (2019) announced new material. In June 2020 he opened the summer series Poletje v Šiški at Kino Šiška.