Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Mit
Label: Dallas Records
Release date: 20.04.2015
Rating: 3/5
Mit are a five-piece who put out two albums between 2009 and 2012. On both, they made a strong case that they stand apart from the rest of their peers in the Slovenian rock crowd, with a sound you could roughly label alternative modern groove metal or rock. They’ve now wrapped up their journey with the release of the album »Akustik«.
As the telling album title already hints, you’ll find 11 original songs on it, written back when Matevž Pavčnik (Vagaunda) was still in the band, since he’s the main songwriter alongside vocalist Uroš Petrovski.
So the band dressed the material up in acoustic arrangements. They invited a few guests onto the album, who mostly contribute extra vocals that “color” the lead vocal. The arrangements were also enriched with keyboards. The atmosphere that defined the first two albums carries over and is held onto here too. Mit remain dark and yes, just as their name suggests, they try to bring a moment of mysticism into what they’re saying.
Even in their acoustic getup, the songs show the band’s well-honed knack for building in a high degree of listenability and musicality, and the main element carrying the trademark of the whole musical dossier is, once again, Uroš with his distinctive voice color and his lower-pitched, manly, sensual delivery.
The album has a pleasant, warm sound and lovely »organic« arrangements, but within those very same arrangements it plays things extremely safe. It’s basically a proper acoustic album carved out in an »izštekani« version. The band could have had more fun playfully messing with the song structures. Even in the instrumental middle sections. They’re mostly filled with simple acoustic guitar parts, which you can hardly say add up to anything like a solo. Only in the tenth track, Parizina, with the help of Celtic folk rockers Beer Belly, does the band allow itself a few experimental quirks (violin, whistle and banjo arrangements were added), which gives the predictable acoustic packaging of the rest of the album a very welcome shake-up.
The album definitely radiates the maturity of the musicians and keeps the quality and typical essence of the band’s two studio albums. We can see it as a kind of apocrypha of the band, who are closing their musical journey with it. Who knows. Maybe Mit will come back again in a few years. With fresh momentum and a new fire.
Lineup
Uroš Petkovski – vocals, acoustic guitar
Matevž Pavčnik – guitar
Miha Oman – guitar
Matej Žibert – bass guitar
Miha Plesničar – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Matej Zalar
Aleksandra Volkova
Andrej Rovan
David Kovšca – Buda
Marko Soršak – Soki
Leon Slabe
Tanja Bukovec
Žiga Pirnat
Beer Bely (band)
Tracklist
01. Maršal
02. Druga stran
03. Črn dež
04. Neskončen dan
05. Angels inside
06. Pošasti
07. Senca
08. Junak
09. Musicus
10. Parizina
