Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Avtomobili
Label: ZKP RTV Slovenija
Release: 2016
Duration: 44:38
Rating: 4.5/5
After 34 years of uninterrupted activity, Nova Gorica’s Avtomobili are delivering their 10th studio album overall. The refreshed lineup has been strengthening its bonds since 2008. True, original material comes slowly to them, but both the predecessor »Pozna pomlad« (2012) and now the new »Daleč« are fruits of the exceptional artistic maturity Avtomobili are famous for, as unique torchbearers of their craft. Even though their back catalog of easygoing evergreens remains a staple of Slovenian radio playlists today, a touch of eclecticism has always clung to their idiom. And the album »Daleč« (“Far Away”) by no means »goes too far«; it stays »close« and sounds like home. In doing so, Avtomobili once again nurture and build on that element of musical uniqueness with maturity, holding on to every recognizable trait of their one-of-a-kind musical ID.
In how the arrangements are put together, the songs feel more focused than on the predecessor, which is hardly surprising. The album is graced by a relaxed catchiness that quickly grows on the listener, without the tense, dramatic and at times dark moods that were a noticeable trait of the more experimental predecessor. Four years is a nice interval for the unburdened, spontaneous development of new ideas, and the quintet, in the same lineup that recorded »Pozna pomlad«, has grown even more mature in its mutual bonds.
The band brings wind instruments back into the arrangements, which is nothing new for them, since the original Avtomobili lineup already included a saxophonist. The album also features a deeply captivating acoustic violin solo by Rok Golob, in the track Pekel v raju. Thanks to its infectious, singable chorus, that track unmistakably smells of the band’s evergreen hits from the first half of the nineties. On the title track, Severa Gjurin joins Marko for a duet. The song is spiced up and livened by Bushi’s lead embellishments. So, Rok and Severa. They were road-tested as special guests at the band’s concert at Cankarjev dom on October 5, 2012, where a spark of real chemistry must have jumped between Avtomobili and both guests, and the guys carried that over to the album »Daleč« too.
The album keeps Avtomobili’s typical expressive character. The main ingredients stay right where they belong. That means Marko’s vocal performance and the specific color of his voice, his hypersensitive poetry and message depth, and the sensual finesse of his interpretation. It’s precisely this poetry, paired with the dressed-up development of the lead melodies, that guarantees an injection of atmosphere and constant yearning. What’s more, the moods occasionally conjure a moment of mysticism, which makes Avtomobili truly unique in Slovenian art rock and pop culture. »Daleč« is not as serious an album as its predecessor. Nor does it have the »darker, brooding« moments that were typical of some parts of »Pozna pomlad«. In that sense the new album as a whole sounds brighter and more optimistic. The first part unfolds in a suddenly radio-friendly way, with the groundwork laid by the opener Stopinje v snegu (danceable, light, hooky little number, with keyboards that sound straight out of the eighties) and right after it the title track, where Šuligoj’s opening bass guitar phrase noticeably cuts through the fabric of the arrangement, and where Severa and Marko create a truly captivating contrasting vocal duet. The typical backdrop of the musical recipe a la Avtomobili is thus established in an instant. That feeling is reinforced by the even more intensely mellow Mladost, the longest track on the album, where the band thoroughly airs out the arrangements for the first time, including with a tasteful use of wind instruments. In this track the band’s exceptionally sensitive side, as a whole, really sparkles for the first time, and a subtle breeze of jazzy dialogue between the instruments creeps into the shape of the song.
The track Na sever is Bushi’s songwriting debut for Avtomobili. It boasts an exceptional shift of moods in the contrast between the structure of the verse and the chorus. The song enjoys a contrasting arrangement of the sonic picture. Šuligoj puts the space to good use with melodic weaving of bass lines, which gives organic warmth and boosts the rhythmic kinetics of the song, Morgan, especially in the verse and the mid-eight passage, turns for a moment into Stewart Copeland (The Police, Curved Air) and enriches the basic rhythm with jazzy finesses, and Mirko’s keyboards create that potion of mystique and grandeur, tying the arrangements together like an invisible atmospheric envelope. Woven through all of it is Bushi’s almost esoteric-sounding guitar, which for the first time on the album rings out in a more noticeably rock way, yet is still worked into the arrangements so as to keep the balance among the elements of the sonic picture. Marko remains Marko. Unique and inimitable. With his charismatic vocal he adds that distinctive singularity to this song too! I’ve deliberately broken down the individual building blocks of the sonic picture here so you can get a glimpse of the sensitive level on which the band members communicate with each other, because you’ll gradually discover many similar parallels on this album yourselves, bit by bit.
The yearning Vrni me nazaj carries real eighties sentiment, and Reka after it fertilizes that feeling and somehow evokes the energy of the opening Stopinje v snegu. Če si rojen stands shoulder to shoulder with them in this respect, and so does, above all, the aforementioned chorus of Pekel v raju (with a playful funky tune in the verse). Even though the band is devoted to the pursuit of melodic perfection, it likes to slip chords into the lead phrases (including a jazzy variation derived from the basic ones) that steer the melody away from the expected development (e.g. the chorus of Če si rojen), which is a big plus, with which Avtomobili effortlessly, as if in jest, steer clear of the potential use of clichés. That is also a guarantee of their uniqueness. Avtomobili thus remain great craftsmen of their musical trade!
It’s not hard to say that Vedel si is the artistic peak of the album »Daleč«. A real drama, or atmospheric theater, with an exceptional arrangement of the building blocks of the sonic picture. In the intro, the contrast between firm »snare« hits of the drums and the mystical dialogue of keyboard and guitar phrasing grabs the attention, while the band gradually and triumphantly builds the dramatic mood toward the chorus crescendo. This is a song Avtomobili could have used to close the album »Daleč« with great effect. Instead they picked Ni več umika for that, where the amount of decibels in the guitar riff within the chorus rises sharply and the song develops through more noticeable surges of rock rhetoric. The dramatic mood of the song’s outro is topped off by an erotic touch of saxophone solo. As far as the poetry itself goes, Ni več umika also takes first place on the album. It’s Marko’s deeply sincere, personal, confessional note, which grandly closes the album »Daleč«. So, one more wonderful song right at the end of the album.
On this album the band will have a much easier time choosing songs that could bring a potential radio hit, compared with the otherwise excellent predecessor »Pozna pomlad«. So there’s a noticeable artistic difference between the two albums! »Daleč« (as a whole) grows slowly again, but it grows on you considerably faster than its predecessor »Pozna pomlad«, which also knew some experimental excursions (the title track). As a whole the songs are more singable and sound more compact. The band’s leading creative nucleus, represented of course by the Vuksanovič brothers, can neither hide nor deny itself. We’ve received a set of ten excellent songs with the organic sonic warmth of analog production. That’s why the album »Daleč« should absolutely be listened to as a whole, from the first song to the last. It unfolds in the glow of great artistic brilliance by seasoned, experienced masters. It sounds light, even though it’s filigree-detailed and woven from many short but concise strokes, which once again reflect very effectively within the unique confessional art culture of this legendary band. The Ministry of Culture should have protected its body of work by decree long ago, as a Slovenian cultural monument. »Daleč« is a new confessional milestone for the band, showing that in the mature era of their creativity, and with a refreshed lineup, Avtomobili keep growing artistically and maturing in expression, and are even more concise and even more musically defined.
Avtomobili – Stopinje v snegu:
Lineup
Marko Vuksanovič – vocals
Mirko Vuksanovič – keyboards
Boštjan Andrejc “Bushi” – electric guitar, mandolin (track no. 1), banjo (track no. 1), backing vocals, whistling (track no. 1)
David Šuligoj – bass guitar, backing vocals, whistling (track no. 1)
David Morgan – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Denis Beganovich Kiki – trombone on tracks no. 3 and 7.
Mitja Bobič – trumpet on track no. 7
Severa Gjurin – vocals on track no. 2
Rok Golob – violin on track no. 9
Jan Šepetavec – tenor saxophone on tracks 7 and 10.
Production
Mirko Vuksanovič & David Šuligoj
Track list
1. Stopinje v snegu
2. Daleč
3. Mladost
4. Na sever
5. Vrni me
6. Reka
7. Če si rojen
8. Vedel si
9. Pekel v raju
10. Ni več umika
