Venue: Orto bar, Ljubljana
Concert date: 27.02.2007
Attendance: 30
Ticket price: 0 €
After spinning the debut Stubborn, which rang out loud and clear from Ozeljan near Nova Gorica last year, though the ears of the wider music crowd in Slovenia stayed deaf to a call from the coast that, from the very first listen, is anything but low-grade ramblings and amateur hour, the boys finally made the trip to the capital last week to test on the most insatiable of live audiences whether their chemistry moves the folks up here too. Kanal ob Soči isn’t exactly a thousand light-years away, yet these young guns from the Primorska region took a good bit longer than a year to make it to the center. The debut stuck with me as a fond memory, at least, and the main common thread running through the songs is a nice blend of melody, substance and a sense that these guys actually know how to serve up the thing called playing, so the decision was made: Wednesday was the perfect day for another visit to Orto. After taking the pulse of the crowd – by the way, you couldn’t miss the guitarist from Naio Ssaion and Tomi from Siddharta among them – we slowly made our way up to the first-floor concert space at ten. The stage sat empty for a good three quarters of an hour, so a slight doubt was starting to creep in about whether the boys were actually planning to play. It’s way too early for that kind of rock-star lateness. A quarter-hour of “academic” delay I can somehow stomach, but with beer at Orto being overpriced and the ears supposed to be warmed up by at least one or two support acts… The slightly over thirty lost souls, mostly invitees and friends at first glance, didn’t exactly swell in numbers when the doors opened. Y-Knot crept onto the stage. The showcase could begin.
The six-piece kicked off the gig by simply following the running order of the CD. The mystical, dreamy guitar opening of ‘Struggle’ and Denis, the almost bald-headed singer on a stage that was too small, starts stringing together whispers, singing and controlled guttural salvos. “You are my sanity / And I’m so scared / How can’t I be / Now that I’m set to show you / Sides you can’t believe…” You could sense the perfectionism, but not quite feel it. And not because of bad playing. Not because of a busted voice that some other band might have served up either. Not at all. The boys came to Ljubljana armed with the right amount of know-how, feeling, refined musicianship and even something I miss in Slovenian bands (especially young ones): almost a proper stage show, which reminded me of Father. Well… Rijeka’s Father had quite a bit more energy and magnetism, but still. The problem was the PA, which was too quiet and allowed us to have almost normal conversations even in the third row of an already empty Orto. The floor didn’t shake. The boys could serve up the best offering of riffs and rhythm, but the sound left me lukewarm, unsatisfied. ‘Invoked’ continued the same story after a quick thank-you. Focused on the music, which you could hear, but which was as loud as if you were listening at living-room volume, I followed the figurative metamorphoses, the levitation, in which beauty can be picked out. Despite the standing-still audience, the boys carried themselves with dignity, but for my taste too statically. “Nothing breaks me / Nothing tears me down / I’m way too proud…” It’s almost like saying: “If we go down, we go down in flames.” That very stance made me feel sorry for the guys. It wasn’t any better with the confidently played Dream Theater-style barrage of ‘Breakdown’ , or with the cross between Faith No More and melodic Dream Theater that I like a lot – the song ‘9’. You could hear too much effort and too little enjoyment. Partly because the applause and cheering were doled out pretty sparingly. ‘Blind’ knows how to seduce with its almost oriental ornamentation. And then my favorite song from the band’s output so far – ‘Caught In Me’. Credit goes to the balanced picture of two gorgeous guitars in dialogue. The Fender in Marko Špacapan’s hands sounds massive and rough, yet beautiful at the same time. Robert Korenjak serves up inventive solos and technically flawless ideas. Peter Mozetič’s drumming is furious and precise like a sewing machine. Marko Bratina follows him flawlessly with bass coloring from under his fingers. Andrej Martinčič doesn’t exactly show virtuosity on the keys, but the melodies are juicy. The vocal cords of the lead, central bard of these hopefuls from the coast, Denis Premrl, hold out to the end of the set list. Then comes an epic finale, brimming with feeling and sensuality. ‘His Prison Cell’ is without a doubt the ace the guys could bet on without a second thought. This ear-friendly song has incredible shine, balls and musical juiciness. They played almost the whole Stubborn record (only the piano closer ‘Time to Leave’ was missing, which would have reminded Tomi from Siddharta how ‘Orion’ might sound with better English pronunciation…) and true to the title – stubbornly and cleanly, with surgical precision to the very end. But since the sound wasn’t exactly an ally this time, the promotion of the regular set came across as a solidly executed technical exercise rather than a sensual, soulful ballet. Since they’d promised us a bit more playing, the covers were up next. First a Silverchair song: ‘Lever’. Hmmm… Hard to say the average crowd knows it. The reception matched. Clap – clap and silence. A bit more passion was stirred up by Y-Knot’s take on the legendary hit by Seattle veterans Pearl Jam. ‘Alive’ without real atmosphere and sonic punch sounded like nothing more than a karaoke version. Like a cry for help. Like an attempt to hold on to the last few atoms of the wandering, departing “masses”. And then a pleasant surprise that genuinely touched me. All this time after Faith No More broke up, and these guys from Primorska still keep alive the memory of their brilliance and crazy beauty and eroticism. ‘Digging the Grave’ and the bizarre gem ‘Gentle Art Of Making Enemies’. Very solid, but not even close to Patton’s genius, sadly. Still commendable and more than just brave! To close, we got ravaged by Silverchair – ‘Slave’ – and had our suppressed hearts softened by the Creed-style ballad ‘Beautiful’. Everyone got something. The evening wrapped up at midnight a little unresolved, leaving a slightly bitter aftertaste of rationalizing and talking ourselves into believing it can only get better next time, plus an emotional shortfall that made us hurry home.
Drawing the line: the gig landed somewhere between great and “in the crapper”. The performance was great. It was above the level of most Slovenian garage “stars”. Slightly less thrilling was the fact that the guys lack a pinch of charisma and luck, and some penetrating marketing, which would undoubtedly win over a lot more people than the few dozen who loiter under our stages. The other extreme of today’s verdict, the negative antipode, is the sound I’ve already mentioned so many times – without proper sound, all that can happen is an assassination of all the effort and all the music born collectively. This launch was therefore a Sisyphean task: fascinating, fun, appealing, but without real results. Better luck and more daring next time!
Setlist
1. Y-Knot – Struggle
2. Y-Knot – Invoked
3. Y-Knot – Breakdown
4. Y-Knot – 9
5. Y-Knot – Blind
6. Y-Knot – Caught In Me
7. Y-Knot – Sacrifice
8. Y-Knot – Fate
9. Y-Knot – His Prison Cell
10. Silverchair – Lever
11. Pearl Jam – Alive
12. Faith No More – Digging The Grave
13. Faith No More – Gentle Art Of Making Enemies
14. Silverchair – Slave
15. Creed – Beautiful
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