David Šuligoj, longtime bassist of Nova Gorica art and pop rock legends Avtomobili, has passed away. The band announced it today on their official Facebook profile (below). No further details about this shocking, painful and devastating news are available at the moment.
Beyond his work with Avtomobili, David Šuligoj (also the owner of Studio Sonus in Šempeter pri Novi Gorici) was for many years a hugely important building block of the local music scene, especially thanks to his seasoned sound engineering and production services. He recorded, produced and generally took care of the final shaping of the sound (mixing, mastering) on a whole series of studio albums by many prominent Slovenian artists, including Zoran Predin, Iztok Mlakar, Vlado Kreslin, Šank Rock, Faraoni, Zaklonišče prepeva, Elevators, Miran Rudan, Brina Vogelnik, Pop Design, Scuffy Dogs and Interceptor.
David Šuligoj started working with Avtomobili back in the early nineties, on the album “Mraz” (1992). From then on he was the band’s inseparable sound engineer. While recording the album “Mesta železniških postaj” (2006) he became a permanent member of the group, and on that record he not only produced but also played all the bass guitar. With David on board, Avtomobili grew from a quartet into a quintet, and in the years that followed they recorded three more studio albums together: “Pozna pomlad” (2012), “Daleč” (2016) and “Sijaj” (2022). David Šuligoj’s refined bass playing automatically widened the band’s musical and sonic range and made the bass lines far more active within the core motifs of their arranging and songwriting. That lifted the expressionist reach of the band’s artistry to an even higher level of expression. In 2008 David also performed with Avtomobili at Studio 14, and the label RTV ZKP Slovenija released the live recording as a new Avtomobili live album called “Klub klubov”.
The Rockline editorial team offers its sincerest condolences on this devastating and unfathomable loss to David’s immediate family, all his close friends, and the band Avtomobili.
In the photo: David Šuligoj during the Avtomobili concert at Kavarna Slamič in Ljubljana on April 3, 2015 (Rockline photo archive 2006-2023, photo: ALEŠ PODBREŽNIK, all rights reserved). You can read the full Rockline review of that concert HERE.
