Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Concert date: 03.04.2013
Attendance: 140
Ticket price: €7.00
Balladero, led by former Psycho Path drummer Dominik Bagola, is an absolute oddball on the scene, in the best sense. Just think about it. A guy who is a keyboardist, singer and drummer all in one breath. All three in one person! It reads unusual, but genial! Slovenia has so far failed to recognize his worth and quality, let alone give him the credit he deserves. At least not the way the band deserves for what they pulled off on their studio debut “Club Deuce” (RockLine review HERE). As things stand, the eclecticism of this band is once again being discovered abroad first. Balladero are currently getting the most love in Germany, where Dominik and his band played a few successful club gigs in Berlin – one of them was even broadcast by German TV channel Alex TV – you can watch the whole thing HERE.
It’s an eclectic take on alternative rock, built mostly on an organic sonic fabric, and in plain words you could call it a happy cross between a cabaret piano ballad and an alternative rock approach. Woven through all of it, in a refined way, is a mix of jazz, pop and blues. The main driving force is definitely mastermind Dominik Bagola and his realization of a unique musical vision, which he has been developing successfully as a solo artist since Psycho Path split up.
Dominik surrounded himself with a tried-and-tested backing band, headed by guitarist Iztok Rodež, seasoned bassist Robert Jukič, drummer Jaka Berger and percussionist Hana Šavel.
In an hour and a half, Balladero played the entire album »Club Deuce«. The band instantly and effortlessly set up the unique backdrop of their soundscape with the opener Shadow Street, where the special vocal approach and the timbre of Dominik Bagola’s voice naturally steal most of the attention. Dominik is not a singer whose screams would shatter windows. He goes for feel, takes care of a full plasma of subtlety, and falsetto is all he needs for that. He’s interesting, as said, because of the special way he leads the melody and shapes the tunes, which is the main trump card behind the particular moods driven by the band’s interpretation of its musical vocabulary on stage. It’s steeped throughout in a gently melancholic, sensuous longing, inherited from his Prekmurje roots.
The longer the minutes ticked by at Orto bar, the more electrified the atmosphere got. Especially after the intro to Monsters, whose lyrics were contributed by Dominik’s former Psycho Path partner Melee. Bagola thanked her and urged everyone present to come to the Werefox gig, announced later in this year’s Ortofest program. The band deliberately stretched Monsters out with improvisations and impressed especially with the chemistry they built, a hypnotic, dreamy atmosphere – ballad-like, as said, but that very fact demands an extremely subtle feel in the performance and a polished sense of tuning in to each other on stage. The moment when the band crashes into the eclectic setup through the tango rhythm of Monsters, after Dominik’s intro, with all the other members joining in as one, can’t afford a slip-up. There must be no slip-up, and this time the acoustics call the shots in the room. Another superb moment, where the building of mood in a stretched-out improvised ending worked wonders (the piano takes over here!), came in Če bi, sadly cut short this time without the duet with Jadranka Juras.
Dominik Bagola’s strength is in sharp focus when he’s cast as the one who wakes up the soundscape at the start, with the other instruments gradually joining in, and the same goes for the closing parts. In those moments Dominik is incredibly convincing as a vocal interpreter, masterfully adapting the language of the piano to his sensuous delivery of the verses – the instrument obeys him faithfully all the way (Prekmurska, Lioness). Dream Come Lie highlights the band’s improvisational sense in the adventurousness of a musical experiment, with Iztok Rodež’s guitar jumping into the center with a plasma of »soundscapes«.
The gig flew by. It offered exactly what we came for. The full, tangible eclectic substance of the unique musical language of the album »Club Deuce«, served up in true Balladero style on the platter of the concert stage! A unique experience, which you meet with a unique musical sermon. That feeling was magnified especially intensely at the very end by the excellent “ethno excursion” Prekmurska. Let’s hope the ideas for the follow-up to the studio debut are already ripening.
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