Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Tolmin / MINK / Slovenia
Concert date: 15.04.2017
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: 5,00€
The middle weekend of this April was an interesting one for the local club scene in northern Primorska too, or more precisely in its capital, Tolmin. On Friday, April 14, 2017, the author of this report missed the excellent Varaždin stoner rockers Drone Hunter at the MINK club in Tolmin, thanks to urgent surgery on his »brain salad«. The next day’s form, though, called for a visit to a really fine pairing of two acts that sound contemporary and retro at the same time: Slovenian indie rockers Jardier and the equally Slovenian (and Brežice-based) singer-songwriter Daniel Vezoja.
At about twenty to eleven in the evening, Daniel Vezoja shuffled onto the stage of Tolmin’s MINK, guitar strapped on. At the end of last year the guy put out a wonderfully beautiful and daring solo studio album, »Where the Light Resides«, and he naturally presented it in full »roundness« at the Tolmin show. Daniel really was an exceptionally fitting opening act before the meeting with Jardier. He builds entirely on a soft weave of gentle acoustic and natural sounds, in which his gorgeous voice sits perfectly, and with a carefully heartfelt manner he addresses the crowd, totally unpretentiously, the whole way through. In a three-quarter-hour set he played the bulk of his new album, threw in a cover of Famous Blue Raincoat, and added a few older songs of his own as well.
After the second song he got company on stage (electric guitar, piano), and a little later a violinist too, at which point his original material breathed dynamically and came to life in a much bigger way. He has a pile of gigs behind him, abroad as well, and his second home is Ireland, which the music announced too: an excellent mix of Celtic folk melos, blues, pop catchiness and even Americana. It’s also worth pointing out how convincingly Daniel’s poetry fits metrically into the songs themselves, written in English, which only magnified the message of his (especially) personal storytelling. As said: a guy who sounds more »English« than Slovenian. A guy with strong material in his pocket, material that could be getting regular airplay on the more prominent Slovenian radio stations.
Daniel Vezoja’s set won quite a bit of sympathy from the audience, who greeted the end of his show with visible approval. Still, the core of the crowd was waiting for the »indie rock« band Jardier. They played their studio debut »Seasons« in its entirety. The main icon of the band, the visionary and initiator of all the key musical ideas that define Jardier’s sound and style, is of course Alex Raztresen (vocals, guitar), joined in the band by Andrej Zavašnik (drums), Jure Pohleven (synthesizer, guitar), Dejan Slak (bass guitar) and Borut Perše (guitar). Jardier are an incredible lineup. Incredible in terms of sheer perfectionism, which you could already see just from looking at the instruments and all the accompanying logistics on stage. All in all, with Alex front and center and his deeply felt vocal approach, the Jardier show promised a proper concert treat, both sonically and in performance. They’re built for the radio, with a culture of strong songs with a melancholic, yearning shimmer, that typical Anglo-Saxon melos that also defines the core of some of the most interesting bands in Great Britain, who inherited in their musical culture the mark of great »art« class and a distinct voice of their own. Elbow or Tindersticks in the early stretch of their careers come to mind. And Jardier, in fact, are right at the start of their (discographic) journey. For now they have one album in their pocket, but it’s distinctive and incredibly convincing and powerful in what it says, which means it was forged for a very long time before reaching its final shape. The songs we enjoyed with the band in Tolmin are the imprint of a search for compositional perfection, where a palette of natural sonic pastels coexists with the great musical value of the infectious character of the lead melodies, in a constant dialogue of deep reconciliation.
The sound was superb, the contrasts between the building blocks of the sonic picture clearly and distinctly audible, the soundscape brilliantly filled out. Jardier are a band that, sonically speaking, thinks of every little detail. The crowd didn’t hide its enthusiasm, especially the ladies, who several times during the show gave themselves over completely to singing along to the choruses.
The band’s basic, elemental magnet is of course singer and guitarist Alex. Above all with his excellent voice, or rather his highly pleasant and charismatic vocal color, and the vocal approach itself. Time and again he fleetingly brings to mind the vocal approach of Elbow singer Guy Garvey, only Alex moves in a somewhat lower vocal register. Heartfelt and, for a Slovenian performer, especially when it comes to using English, practically flawless.
The band enjoys popularity, and it proved that with the Tolmin show. With its energy and vision it has made a big impact in a relatively short time. The debut »Seasons« sold out, so it got its first reissue. With the Tolmin show, Jardier displayed their great class, musical sensitivity, piercing artistic flair and a boldly powerful musical focus, which confidently drives the ship of five seasoned musicians onward and upward.
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