Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Hamo & Tribute 2 Love
Label: Self-released
Release: 2017
Rating: 3.5/5
It’s old news by now that Matevž »Hamo« Šalehar is the guy who nailed the second run of a stellar slalom race, wiring the hearts of pretty much everyone and carving out a visible spot in the current picture of Slovenian middle-of-the-road music. He’s won over a hefty base of Slovenian fans, led by girls aged 15 to 22, and at the same time the broad »wisdom« of the wise heads of Slovenia’s critical public, the folks called upon to judge what’s good music and, let’s be honest, what’s bad. Of course Matevž has worked hard, hard for all of this over the years, and out of that hard-won experience he’s developed and adopted an exceptional language of diplomacy, which has let him walk the thin dividing line between the authenticity of musical artistry (artistic integrity) and a reached threshold (a still tasteful dose) of »glitz and kitsch«, with which he wants to please the public all around. In other words, he wants to be commercial, or to put it bluntly, »pop«. That’s a little doctrine, and only a handful of Slovenian acts have passed the exam, the ones who managed to wrap a tangible musical art essence in pop approaches. Suma sumarum, Hamo and the gang have grown into a phenomenon of popularity and clear backing from the wider Slovenian public, so they don’t need to reach for pre-planned staging, packaging and serving up of musical hollowness, shallowness and feigned perfection where even your fart smells like vanilla. Slovenian musical mainstream is still decidedly overloaded with that phoniness, but who cares? Consumers don’t have time to separate the wheat from the chaff anyway.
Hard work has brought Hamo and the crew to their third studio album, »3p«. Since the first two albums cemented the band’s musical niche, for the third one they shook off the burden of the image of both predecessors, even though it’s clear that the poetry of the new record is the least likely thing to satisfy the sensibilities of the squealing-girls age bracket, who remain, and will remain with this new album too, the band’s first allies, of course. Better they get introduced to a healthy musical environment with Hamo than with Severina. The cover art is tailored accordingly, too.
As the title itself says, »3p« is a 3-p-ed-out album. Literally. The guys have shifted out of the higher gears. You take the »album pill« (read: put the album on the »record player«) and you get all 3-p’d out! Every song unfolds in seriously, properly mellow rhythmic keys. What matters is that there are only eight songs on the album, which amplifies the feeling that the format carries a clearly crafted character, compactness and an instantly noticeable artistic focus. In the spotlight, of course, is none other than Hamo, with his by-now »nationally beloved, humming way of addressing you« (with a throaty heaviness that’s optional, and the Cocker-style »steel-mill grit« has completely evaporated). Everything is subordinate to the pursuit of the sheer joy of creating, which springs up when original feelings spill over onto a new sound carrier. That’s the heart of it, and that vibe, that »feeling«, overpowers everything. With it, Hamo & Tribute 2 Love win you over again in no time.
By no means is the album a musical milestone when you set it next to the whole history of rock’n’roll and blues. It’s even quickly forgettable and unimportant. It’s a different story when you measure it against what the domestic scene can reach. In that sense it’s a very high-quality product, backed by a team of excellent, seasoned musicians who don’t handle their business with mere routine but with a compact musical vision, from which you can instantly tell they know what they’re doing and know what they want to create.
As expected, the album carries a clearly implemented blues element, but it’s commanded by a musicality with a clearly crafted character of Slovenian geographic origin. It has an organic, live, »crispy« crackle, and a »hard-dimensional« excellently filled-out soundscape (the production is, after all, superb). The warmth of the sound is of course underlined by the analog nature of the vinyl sound carrier. There’s effective working chemistry and mutual awareness in the band, so the record breathes through its interpretation with full lungs and comes across totally »live«. In all this, the song Zabluzu is another jackpot, since the composition is made straight for airplay on all the major Slovenian radio frequencies. Hamo also tries his hand more substantially as a chansonnier this time, and the surprising standout is the track called Uspavanka, where his »humming« and almost »murmuring« calls to mind Vlado Kreslin. That »chansonnier« moment is revived in the highly impressive closer Telo, where a piano supports Matevž’s vocals in the intro and the finale.
Hamo speaks to you in poetry once again, and very effectively. Emotions and passions, the thing works. In places (Zabluzu, Govori mi grdo) the vocal is enriched with the echo effect of old-school, or if you like »Presley-esque«, production, which sneaks into the dreamy yet rhythmically flirtatious look of the songs, deepening the touch of rock retro classicism. Into such a mellow environment fits perfectly, if not downright necessarily and lovingly, the chunky warmth of the velvety Hammond sound, which the new record serves up this time in extra abundance. Compared to the keyboards, the guitar work is no less sophisticated, yet expressively, concisely minimalized. Through all the arranging moves, Hamo’s vocal keeps its central position throughout. Although at many points the band could have developed an exciting jam, it deliberately doesn’t go there, since the album’s first priority is keeping listenability high. For the purism of music gourmets who seek out the unusual, the quirky, the constant self-challenging of an internalized musical genius, the kind that artistic freedom generates, »3p« will surely be an extremely boring product.
»3p« is not just the album Hamo & Tribute 2 Love wanted to make. It’s also the album they had to make, since artistically it’s clearly different from both predecessors, while still holding on to the band’s well-developed musical identity card, dodging the trap of possible creative exhaustion and self-recycling. The axiom »u izi« (easy does it), paired with an excellently packaged »less is more« approach to arranging, is decidedly amplified this time, and in »3p«’s artistic drift away from both previous studio documents it’s more than welcome. Above all, it feels good that there are few songs, that there’s no »theft« of playing time on it (no swings in quality from track to track). That’s why the album carries a well-crafted essence of tangible musical content and focus throughout. One thing’s for sure. Hamo & Tribute 2 Love won’t repeat an album like this in their career. Not because they couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to, they simply won’t want to, since in their future musical vision they’re already eyeing challenges of a different artistic nature. So evolution marches on. “3p” is merely its temporary stop and, at the same time, a new, successfully measured-out step on the band’s road to artistic maturity.
Hamo & Tribute To Love – Telo (official lyric video):
Lineup
Matevž “Hamo” Šalehar – vocals, guitar
Denis Horvat – keyboards
Uroš “Spretan” Primožič – guitar
Uroš “Hipi” Škerl Kramberger – bass
Martin “Buco” Janežič – drums
Production
Drago Popovič, Denis Horvat & Matevž “Hamo” Šalehar
Tracklist
1. Vreme za lubezen
2. Zabluzu
3. Govori mi grdo
4. Uspavanka
5. Gospod
6. Ona gre
7. Ti in mraz
8. Telo
