Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Vatra
Label: Dallas Records
Release: 2013
Length: 26:11
Rating: 4.5/5
Vatra, a Croatian band originally from Virovitica, are yet another story with a happy ending that killed two birds with one stone. They broke into the Croatian rock mainstream, yet kept that bit of wiggle room for their own existence that’s essential for the band’s healthy evolution as artists in their own right. After six studio albums, that evolution now takes shape in a new EP called »VT«. So what does the EP’s title actually point to? There are a few possible readings. Is it short for their song »Volim te«, or an abbreviation for the town of Virovitica, or just a shortened Vatra? Whatever the case, if the question’s eating at you, go ask the band straight up.
For Vatra, the first album to announce a shift in sound and style was the fifth studio album »Sputnik«, released in 2009. Three years later, that was driven home by their still-current sixth studio album, »Ima li budnih?« (2011). With the EP »VT«, Vatra keep that trend going. The band is clearly hugely excited about its current new sound and style, so it confidently keeps exploring and nurturing its sound in this direction, which is exactly the right call. For the EP »VT«, the band picked six songs from its back catalog and dressed them up in completely new arrangements. The idea was to update them in tune with the new musical direction, and in doing so to quietly hint at where they plan to turn with their next studio release.
Vatra chose songs that, even as originals, grabbed attention on their parent albums with their daringly bold arrangements and the sheer power of what they had to say. So from the debut studio album »Između nas« (1999) they picked two singles, Vrati se and Bilo je dobro dok je trajalo, from »Prekid programa« (2004) two songs, Gorim and Tebi u lice, and one song each from »Sputnik« (00:50) and the current »Ima li budnih?« (Tremolo in a remixed version).
»VT« is thrilling every single second, and above all it delivers a pleasant shock in the sheer expressive range the reworked versions of the originals reach. Vatra are a band that writes poetry with clearly tangible content, and vocalist Ivan Dečak is an exceptional deliverer of emotional sincerity and the depth of passion. So the softer, more tender and more subtle the delivery, the more intense those emotions become, and with them the power of the lyrics. That’s why this time the band put particular effort into the many finer points of coloring Ivan Dečak’s vocal performance. As the arrangements were layered on, his voice ended up essentially »wrapped« in the natural tone of acoustics, here and there superbly backed by programmed loops and sampling. All the songs are built on a mid-tempo or slow pace, which calls for extreme softness in the movements of the rhythm section, yet contrasting punchiness in the low end. All six songs carry an incredibly distinctive melodic catchiness in their original versions, and on the EP the melody remains an integral part of the band’s musical body, but it shows up in a completely new light as the moods unfold. The intensifying of feelings of longing, melancholy, hope and defiance, but also hurt and pain, hits you instantly, and that’s where this release gets its conviction.
The backdrop of Gorm is built at the start from the echo of a vibraphone (played, of course, via keyboards), which reflects the message of »laughter ringing in the head«, hinted at in one of the song’s lines. The last two songs, 00:50 and Tremelo, develop an extraordinary solemnity and bring the EP’s atmosphere to its peak. The closing Tremolo, in its remixed version, floats on a soundscape of eighties synth prosthetics, which are then balanced out by decisive programmed loops of rhythmic kinetics. It’s a fantastic closing mini-suite of intoxicatingly erotic temptation, teasingly intensified by French lines whispered by Marina Balučić, making it a special highlight of this EP. It’s precisely the sonic experiment on Tremelo that shows Vatra no longer hold back at all when exploring themselves musically, and that on their next studio album they intend to push into new dimensions of their own musical expression.
The chemical effect of emotion and passion, accompanied by the wonderful fine-tuned craft of coloring the sonic collages, is outstanding. The commitment in the studio also shows great respect for their own material, which in its new form carries a fully upgraded expressive character, and at the same time signals that Vatra’s next album will once again be a special kind of musical treat and a new adventure in the wise blending of sonic experiment, clearly defined melodies and the tangible vibration of honest feeling in poetry. And that’s the essence of every artist. Vatra fully understand that principle and follow it!
Lineup
Ivan Dečak – vocals, guitar
Robert Kelemen – guitar
Irena Celio-Cega – keyboards, backing vocals
Tomislav Šušak – bass guitar
Mario Robert Kasumović – drums
Production
Pavle Miholjević & Jura Ferina
Tracklist
1. Vrati se
2. Bilo je dobro dok je trajalo
3. Gorim
4. Tebi u lice
5. 00:50
6. Tremolo (all the woods remix)
