Label: Samo Records
Release date: 15.01.2020
Production: Samo Šalamon
Album length: 64.14 min
Genre: Art Rock
Rating: 9.5 / 10
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Brest are growing more and more into a musical institution that has to be taken very seriously on the Slovenian music scene. If anyone got the feeling that the album “Nemi film” (RockLine review) was just a stepping stone on the road of artistic maturing for the main players and most recognizable Brest figures, namely the always distinctive singer Vesna Zornik (Katalena) and Samo Šalamon, one of the most unusual and special guitarists the universe has produced, internationally too, that feeling fooled them. With Bojan Krhlanko arriving as the permanent drummer and Samo Pečar taking the permanent bass spot, Brest hit the stages and settled into a “quartet plus one” lineup. That “one” is the poet Kristina Kočan, effectively the band’s fifth member, responsible for all the lyrics that Samo Šalamon then sets to music. And so, after not quite three years, the new album “V polsnu” has come into the world.
Its predecessor already served up a whole hour of music, and its successor is no less ambitious, delivering a touch more playing time and once again a full 14 new original tracks. Šalamon, alongside Krhlanko (Bojan Krhlanko has become extremely respected and in-demand in recent years: he plays with Šalamon in Roten GirlZ, plays in Kukushai, for Litošt, and last but not least, even the mighty Laibach quickly snapped him up), is a man with a solid jazz background, and in Brest he’s testing himself in an environment that demands a great deal of adaptation. The jazz culture is still very much present, but it’s placed into this setting in a much more refined way, with more concise articulation in the arrangements. Being part of a musical body whose vision puts songs with a well-developed arranging character up front, which also means a distinctive dose of catchiness and musicality, polished links between verses and choruses (pre-choruses), is therefore a challenge of its own kind. The songs on “Nemi film” already confirmed Šalamon’s exceptionally multilayered craftsmanship, and precisely because the songs artistically rise and fall on Samo Šalamon’s guitar, it’s downright incredible how many interesting faces of guitar playing this musician serves up on “V polsnu” too. He deepens and widens the reach of his expressive layering on the new album, and Samo, who made his name on the international scene mostly as a “(free) jazz genius”, faces a completely different challenge in the Brest story. In the songs he played multiple guitar lines, also combining lines of acoustic (and even mandolin), electric and semi-acoustic guitar, while occasionally decorating them with powerful sustain that creates esoteric “soundscapes” (in the title track or in Japonski gozd, he even pulls it close to Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree; fans of Pink Floyd will recognize the sonic and effects-driven kinship too, or even (immodestly put) King Crimson). But all of it is carefully “subordinated” to the compact forms of the tracks. Something special is conjured up by the song Lov. It sits in the middle of the album and surprisingly “breaks” it with its atmosphere. Unlike the other songs, it’s dark, especially exploratory (it even catches some mysticism), yet still compact through and through. What really grabs you in the second half is Samo’s guitar solo, which makes use of a distorted tone, and its lines even weave in a few notes of an Arabic flavor. A completely progressive solo that deepens the art-rock credentials of the band’s musical character.
Frankly speaking, “V polsnu” is an excellent album in every respect. Samo also played bass guitar (except on the ninth track, where Samo Pečar plays bass), added keyboards, used mandolin for extra “ornaments” and for fertilizing the sonic picture, and (as usual) combined acoustic and electric string lines. Integral is the role of Vesna Zornik’s unique vocal color, which once again captivates and seduces with ease. Vesna’s interpretation melts heartily and fittingly into Kristina Kočan’s poetry, breathing life into it with her vivid sensuality. This time Vesna almost never reaches for her signature trick, which gives her vocal tone more of the sharpness she’s known for when singing with Katalena. In Brest there’s less room for lucidity, to the extent there’s any at all. For the most part Vesna approaches things with a particularly gentle, tender and supple softness, which grabs you even more with the new music than on the debut. Why? Most of the songs work just as the title “V polsnu” hints. Truly dreamy, often softly esoteric, often mystically gazing, yearning, and in these soft, highly organic sonic collages they keep up that effect even within a framework of calm rhythmic patterns, with Krhlanko often just gently “licking” the cymbals. With such a markedly sophisticated approach, Brest achieve a special magnification of feelings, which hit all the more intensely the more softly they’re interpreted (played and sung). Especially in these gently coaxing, calm parts of the album, there’s a huge amount of room for the bass guitar to develop its musical nature as an instrument, which Samo Šalamon exploits by way of contrast. Musically, the bass lines also optimize the sonic picture wonderfully, and this comes through especially in, for example, Peščeni poljubi, like a “mild, caressing breeze”, which on the album is followed by a sharp contrasting turn in mood, into the folk-tinged, high-spirited Izlet.
Vesna breathes the recognizable character of cabaret chanson into the songs, but it’s interesting that Šalamon, in the ideas he uses to dress up the basic motifs, constantly brings in musical elements (“solutions”) that reshape the songs to the point where they take on a format of artistic originality, eclecticism and genre-crossing provocation. In her melodies, Vesna keeps skillfully opening up space to magnify her vocal nature, which, unlike the horde of Slovenian girls coming out of the hatcheries of uniform vocal framing, is recognizable a mile away and carries its own character throughout. The new album’s music also has clear outlines of pop and middle-of-the-road reconciliation, so many of the 14 tracks are candidates that could easily find their way to the airwaves. A song like Midva sva vse could be an instant mini radio hit, and the equally excellent Nočna scena hides no smaller potential in that regard.
An album with a huge amount of musical substance, one where you discover, pleasantly surprised, that 14 tracks is by no means too many, because over 64 minutes of musical substance spin by in a flash. There’s no wobble in quality between songs. They reach a great degree of idea-driven and arrangement variety and dynamic shifts of mood, and in this way the album achieves exceptional artistic consistency. The chemistry is there! It works brilliantly, the way the album ” V polsnu” grabs you full-bloodedly. Let’s hope that, given how deeply the musicians are involved in all sorts of other projects and challenges, Brest stick around and become a fixture, one that keeps enriching the often idea-starved Slovenian music scene with its homegrown, provocative creativity, backed by a crew of colorful musical artists, in all its brilliant artistic originality and eclecticism.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Balada (04:48)
2. Tisti čas (04:24)
3. V polsnu 05:50
4. Zlato (04:22)
5. Japonski gozd (05:10)
6. Midva sva vse (04:50)
7. Lov (05:36)
8. Pelji me tja (04:46)
9. Nočna scena (04:04)
10. Pod dlanmi (04:12)
11. Peščeni poljubi (04:30)
12. Izlet (03:46)
13. Lutke (05:02)
14. Prazne ure (02:52)
Lineup:
Kristina Kočan – lyrics
Vesna Zornik – vocals
Samo Šalamon – acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, bass guitar (all except 9), keyboards, backing vocals
Samo Pečar – bass guitar (9)
Bojan Krhlanko – drums
