Label: ZKP RTV Slovenija
Release year: 2012
Production: Mirko Vuksanovič & David Šuligoj
Album length: 41.25 min
Genre: Art Rock / Pop
What’s the rush with “Pozna pomlad”? Avtomobili have all the time in the world. The band, which hit its commercial peak somewhere in the first half of the nineties, is finally back with a new studio album after a six-year break from the studio.
Its predecessor, “Mesta železniških postaj”, came out in 2006. A superb album, honestly the most mature one, up to 2006, in every facet of Avtomobili’s art rock craft. A masterpiece on which the fantastic Nova Gorica guitarist Alan Jakin left his epitaph one last time, because real bad luck struck him soon after the album was recorded. The evergreen Avtomobili, still a daily staple on all of Slovenia’s major radio stations, were facing a make-or-break problem. Who the hell was going to step in and fill, with their know-how, experience and genius, the enormous pair of boots left empty by Jakin’s departure?
Much sooner than anyone could have expected, the band found its answer in Boštjan Andrejc Bushi. Bushi is a seasoned veteran. Before Avtomobili he played in Night Jump, HeaveniX, Terra Mystica, Skunk Funk, The Rolling Stoned, and with artists like Jan Plestenjak and Tinkara Kovač. Just running through those names, you can quickly conclude that Bushi hides a kind of expressive versatility and depth, and that’s exactly what Avtomobili need. Not only that. Touch matters. And the fate of Avtomobili’s musical statement was always tied to a sophisticated guitar touch that reached right down to the bottom of the soul, with its unpretentious depth of pure rock vibration. If Jakin was above all a guitarist of concept, who over the years shaped a recognizable form of his playing and with it a hefty chunk of Avtomobili’s musical artistry, Bushi brought even more experimentation and expressive variability to Avtomobili, and it quickly became clear that Bushi is a seeker of organic colors, genuine and natural tonal colors. That he doesn’t scatter notes all over the place, but picks them carefully and shapes them into a meaningful whole of any improvisational body, is one more virtue of this musician, one that sets him apart from the dozen Slovenian guitarists who rank among the greatest masters of guitar playing in Slovenia.
Bushi is a perfectionist too, just like Alan Jakin. Bushi was forged in Night Jump, who are known to have dug into Pink Floyd covers, and once you poke at David Gilmour and slowly sink into him, it’s clear you’re gradually molting into a professor of sophistication. Of course, you need talent and will for that. Bushi has both in abundance. And more! Besides his guitar playing, Bushi also brought his vocals to the band. In Night Jump the guy very successfully imitated the voices of the greatest rock throats on the planet, from Led Zeppelin to Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Cream, Thin Lizzy,… which Avtomobili of course exploited thoroughly on the album “Pozna pomlad”. Bushi first entered the band’s discography on the live release called “Klub klubov” (2008).
Times are new, and not exactly rosy. The new album, a reflection of the times we breathe in the “Šentflorjan chicken coop”, is consequently the darkest album in the Avtomobili story. It’s considerably heavier than its predecessor, and you can hear in the sound production that Bushi’s guitar is looking for room for its art exposé far more directly than on the previous album, where Mirko Vuksanović’s keyboards took on the dominant role in the accompaniment, as well as in the occasional improvisational playing. So “Pozna pomlad” is more of a rock album than a pop one! Simple as that. Bushi’s guitar is much more prominent and cranked up in sound. The heaviness is also underlined by the use of keyboards (“Kaj si hotel”), which at points turn to a “Hammond-like” sound, a retro chunkiness from the old days when rock was still young and innocent. And it works: first, it’s fascinating; second, it’s somewhat surprising; and third, it’s immensely pleasing! That means “Pozna pomlad” is a special album, different from its predecessors. “Mission point 1” is therefore accomplished for Avtomobili. They’ve kept all their recognizable trademarks and, on top of that, puffed up a new, different album! That’s the path of healthy development along the evolutionary road of any rock band!
“Bar pozabe”, the opening track, with its gloomy bent, flags the findings of the previous paragraph. The guitar kicks in rock-style with a splash of higher decibel dosage than we’re used to from Avtomobili. Marko Vuksanović “chimes in” with an almost deathly falsetto in the verse (in the pre-chorus he’s guided by a sound effect, as if the voice were coming from a phone booth), accompanied by Bushi, who harmonizes Marko’s vocal almost like a duet. The chorus confirms a heavier implant of guitar playing than we’re used to from the band’s more pop-minded past work. The middle instrumental section offers a classic hard rock solo showcase from Bushi, and the song unfolds in a dramatic, chilly atmosphere. A rather uncharacteristic song for Avtomobili, actually against the expectations of any connoisseur of the band, and above all a surprising choice for the opening slot of the album. In contrast to the album opener, “Kaj si hotel”, which continues the record in a playful, frisky and humorous rhythm, soon puts things back where they’re expected! Between Marko’s lines in the verse there’s room that Bushi dynamically livens up with short jazz-blues variations. In the compact chorus, with that typical Avtomobili melodic appeal, the rhythm gains firmness as percussion joins the song’s rhythmic undercarriage. The song is the second single from the album, and in the chorus it again makes no secret of a bigger flirtation with rock intensity compared to the band’s studio past.
“Lepotica dneva” is yet another gorgeous ballad in the band’s typical musical rhetoric (but for new times!), where for the first time Marko’s interpretation of the verses really stands out, in the sensuously sophisticated delivery of the singer’s recognizable approach. The familiar sentiment of his poetry, which deeply merges a moment of nostalgia, wandering through memories of bygone days that never return, the gnawing of the tooth of time (the tooth of the cup not yet, at least for now), the coexistence of perfect love and inner personal fulfillment. The beautiful chorus rises above all the building blocks and takes over, when Avtomobili manage to place their recognizable attributes into the focal line, bringing the delicacy of Marko’s subtle poetry even closer, with that recognizable pulse of melancholy and hidden longing. Judging by how the message develops in the verses, it’s not hard to conclude that “Lepotica dneva” is actually the country of Slovenia (today), which deserves a better state!
After “Kaj si hotel”, “Moj mir”, as well as “Sladka svetloba” toward the end of the album, are composed “twins” that could make the short list of singles for heavy rotation on the radio airwaves. It’s the typical approach (established over the years) to composing in the polished vocabulary of the band’s artistry and craft, where the compact and dynamic effect of the chemistry and solid musical camaraderie of the quintet is on full display.
The band took on setting Simon Gregorčič’s poem “Na bregu” to music. It’s silly to compare Gregorčič’s poetry with Marko Vuksanović, but I could easily believe that Marko himself wrote the verses this time in “Na bregu”. The song is in itself a slight departure from the album, with an almost folkloric-pastoral “Slovenian” countryside tune (the chorus), an interesting moment of musical exploration for the band – with its use of acoustics and confessional intimacy it already borders on singer-songwriter impulse, but the song doesn’t bring to the album what comes right after it: the superb “Netopir” (as mystical as can be – the mysticism is created by the opening figure of Mirko’s keyboards), after “Netopir” “Palme gorijo”, and after “Palme gorijo” the song “Poslušaj”, while the title track at the end is a chapter of its own anyway.»Netopir«, »Palme gorijo« and »Poslušaj« are that expressive “extra” that we always quietly and eagerly look for and expect from Avtomobili’s artistry. This consecutive “triplet” reaches the central peak of the artistic, expressive image on the album “Pozna pomlad”. The personal, mystical Netopir has one of the most beautiful links between verse and chorus, with the obligatory crescendo in the chorus melody of a gorgeous tune. “Palme gorijo” is equipped with a Latin rhythmic touch, boldly deepened by the incorporation of percussion, joined by the light jazzy flow of Bushi’s guitar in the verse. Judging by the poetry of Marko Vuksanović’s “green tongue” in this song, it’s clear it’s a subtle splash of disgust at human shortsightedness, which in its rapid transience destroys nature for a handful of money, above all at humanity’s complete estrangement from Mother Nature. Everything turns gray. The “faces disappearing” in the verse are people without a character identity of their own. Bushi’s outro solo is excellently adapted, with its arrangement of notes, to the song’s easy-going trot, which carries, as already mentioned, a mild Latin sentiment, that is, a seaside breeze. Bushi’s jazzy solo itself even evokes fleeting associations with Pat Metheny, especially from the “Still Life (Talking)” period, from the second half of the eighties. It’s followed by the maximally positively minded Poslušaj. It’s the first lead single of the new album. It carries a simple, unobtrusive chorus that quickly wins the listener over. That’s that special Avtomobili element they’ve always handled so masterfully and skillfully, and which earned them a heap of unforgettable evergreen hits. This very song sparkles with that excellent blend of unique coexistence of all the building blocks, confirming the great working chemistry in the band.
Above all, though, the last one, the closing “Pozna pomlad”, is the interesting one. It’s a mystical, maximally slowed-down waltz with enormously sad connotations. Marko’s personally subtle, softly fragile note of confession is once again full-blooded. The song is interesting because it highlights the side of Bushi that Jakin was full of. And it shows most vividly why Bushi is a completely worthy replacement for Alan Jakin, in fact the best possible solution for the band! And where’s the key? In the “Gilmouresques”! In the outro, an extended instrumental dialogue between Mirko’s keyboards and Bushi’s refined splash of strictly read yet masterfully bent, stretched, drawn-out, “slide-y” notes, full of control and sophistication! At this point the two musicians build a gorgeous soundscape into a cold exit from the album that gives you instant chills! The band again tastefully and effectively uses Bushi’s vocal to harmonize Marko’s vocal. The high point, as mentioned, is the closing instrumental part of the song.
It’s exactly this “tail” of the album that stirs the spirits and raises questions? Do Avtomobili dare to take a step further in terms of expression? Toward “progressive” art rock? The next album will answer that. They don’t need hits anymore, their status is solid and their standing has no expiry date. They have nothing left to prove. Now they can truly create in a relaxed, free, unburdened way, that is, with a full artistic payoff! Let’s hope the musicians will challenge themselves as artists in the future and create an artistic upgrade of “Pozna pomlad”, which, for all its “caution”, clearly gives the feeling that Avtomobili can squeeze out even more interesting, we might even say provocatively unusual, but entirely their own, musical things.
On the Slovenian mid-wave rock scene, which is modestly and narrowly defined (as far as REAL rock bands go), there’s hardly a nicer male voice for pop rock than Marko Vuksanović’s. Marko matures like good old wine. His velvety voice has gained even more warmth and, over the years, grown charmingly thicker still. And as such it remains the basic trademark and recognizable element of Avtomobili’s music. The rhythm section, now a “squared Davids” (David Morgan plus David Šuligoj), is tremendously dynamic, just lively enough for the band’s artistry. Šuligoj once again deftly seasoned some parts of the album with his refined filling of the available space on bass guitar. His organic feel and natural sonic warmth come alive especially in a song like “Kaj si hotel”, where his exuberant funky grooves set a solid form for the accentuated rhythmic texture of the drums, combined with percussion (the “cowbell” in the chorus), and the drumming fully comes alive in the song Kaj si hotel. On this front, since David Morgan arrived, we can again talk about a true team spirit in the band. The songs are more intensely rock-driven than ever, the sound keeps its organic quality and warmth, the building blocks fit together in optimal symbiosis, and the guitar steps into the role of sonic accompaniment as well as the splash of “ornaments” even more generously than on “Mesta železniških postaj”, with even greater variability of arrangement solutions, which keeps the door wide open for Avtomobili to nurture their artistry in the future. Pop accessibility remains a trademark, but this time the rock edge noticeably pushes it away from itself. In newcomer Bushi, Mirko Vuksanović has found an excellent partner for building a soundscape, and the duo’s dialogue doesn’t run dry of inventiveness and insightful solutions in refined arranging. Let’s hope that in the future he’ll dare to reach even further in improvisational mischief and in the artistry of arranging the lead motifs.
“Pozna pomlad” reflects extraordinary maturity and seasoning, and the word “spring” sums up that in the hearts of these guys, as the Vuksanović brothers will by no means deny, a blazing fire of great creative passion still burns, along with a drive toward many goals waiting to be realized. “Pozna pomlad” is an exceptionally beautiful pop rock album of unique artistry and musical craft from the unique hands of Avtomobili. “Good thing we have them!”, says my fine colleague Jernej Vene, otherwise the familiar friendly voice of Radio Val 202! Avtomobili, of course.
Let’s hope the band gets the next album together a little faster. Within three years of the release of “Pozna pomlad” at the latest. The team spirit is locked onto a firmly unified creative frequency. May it stay that way and create many more timeless documents like the album “Pozna pomlad”. You can feel that this lineup can reach even higher and even further in artistry.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
Track list:
1. Bar pozabe
2. Kaj si hotel
3. Lepotica dneva
4. Moj mir
5. Na bregu
6. Netopir
7. Palme gorijo
8. Poslušaj
9. Sladka svetloba
10. Pozna pomlad
Lineup:
Marko Vuksanović – vocals
Boštjan Andrejc “Bushi” – guitar, backing vocals
Mirko Vuksanović – keyboards
David Šuligoj – bass guitar, backing vocals
David Morgan – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Rok Škarabot – percussion on tracks no. 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9
Marko Lasič – drums on tracks no. 5 and 6
Rudi Bučar – backing vocals on track no. 5
