Label: Dallas Records
Release date: October 2018
Production: Edin “ĐejZi” Biščić
Album length: 41.34 min
Genre: Alternative Rock
Cosmo Daivat are a band that has slowly, and entirely organically, found and defined its musical character. Already after two EPs released under the name Co.Da, the band showed a lot of promise, and what’s interesting is that they then took the road of tighter, more focused sound and production, which, along with the search for musicality, brought a studio debut onto the scene a few years back, delivering alternative rock leaning into metal, with a noticeable pop rhetoric.
Well, with the second studio album, “Svobodi vdan”, we can say that it’s everything Cosmo Daivat were searching for on its predecessor and have finally managed to find. “Svobodi vdan” defines and builds on a recognizable musical pose and form that the band itself loves, which is the most important thing, while at the same time, with a contagious formula of pomp and bombast and grabby, atmospheric, seductive choruses, it finally delivers the right recipe for a credible push onto the more prominent frequencies of Slovenian radio airwaves. In fact, the key to reaching this point in their evolution was the decision to start writing lyrics in Slovenian. That’s how you find your musical character faster.
“Svobodi vdan” is a strong album. It has ten extremely skillfully arranged and subtly produced tracks, where the band sweated over a ton of details before they were satisfied with how it all came out. A sweet-melancholic album is what we have here. The ten tracks grab you extremely effectively thanks to cleverly packaged harmonic lines that, composed this way, make everything click from the very first listen. That’s why there’s more than one candidate for a single on this album. The high quality of the product is also backed up by the variety of ideas in the leading motifs that form the core of the songs. Two guitars deftly fill the sonic space, build a massive wall when needed, and often “split apart” in their lines, each going to its own side, which makes for that much better use of the soundscape. Cosmo Daivat use the mid-eight passages for pleasing atmospheric turns, and they absolutely don’t “overcomplicate” things with (possible) technically complex solos. Everything on “Svobodi vdan” is set up very simply, and that simplicity isn’t always easy to find, but Cosmo Daivat pass this test on “Svobodi vdan” with flying colors. In this craft, they’ve definitely grown up artistically.
So the path is clear. Alternative rock with pop musicality that speaks to the listener in a contagious way. Cosmo Daivat pull this off on “Svobodi vdan” with serious credibility. They’ve also proven themselves as a team that has grown in terms of style, that is, in the aesthetics of arrangement itself. You can hear it in the band’s tendency to build up atmosphere, the mood of these otherwise dark (bittersweet) outlooks of personal, confessional lyrics, in gradual steps, reaching a crescendo of grabbiness in the catchy choruses that the album has no shortage of. Heartfelt, passionate vocals, dynamic vocal lines, and pleasing harmonizing of the chorus melodies with additional backing vocals.
“Svobodi vdan” is a true alternative rock album brewed on Slovenian soil. You can’t take that away from it, whether in terms of vibe, atmosphere, or the sheer energy it radiates. The band’s big win is that on the new album they’ve found an expressive niche that, in the crowded field of Slovenia’s alternative rock acts, is still unclaimed. That means Cosmo Daivat have finally found “themselves” with it. “Svobodi vdan” is an achievement that throws the doors wide open for the band to all the essential spheres of how any (given) rock band functions. With it, Cosmo Daivat can now, completely carefree and relaxed, keep nurturing and developing their musical vision going forward.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
Tracklist:
1. Soncu kradem zvezde
2. Dom
3. Signal
4. Ledene rože
5. Jutro
6. Surova zver
7. Gora tvoja vodi
8. Človek je sam
9. Snov mojih sanj
10. Nino
Lineup:
Damjan Šaršanski – vocals
Edin Biščić – guitar
Matej Krč – guitar
Uroš Dobčnik – bass
Aleš Hrastnik – drums
