Artist: Kapela La Chateliere
Label: Self-released
Release date: 1996
Rating: 4.6/5
Kapela La Chateliere is a trio of three superb musicians – woodwind player Andrej Čopar, multi-instrumentalist and producer Andrej Žibert, and accordionist Evgen Malis. De Profundis is the name of their debut, recorded between 1991 and 1995. The album is admittedly a bit long, and many would assume that on a record this lengthy the quality can’t stay consistently high, but it’s obvious that this was years of hard work, and the album keeps its intensity from start to finish.
The main songwriters in the band are Andrej Čopar, a great woodwind player and currently a member of the excellent jazz rock outfit Miusow Quartet, and Andrej Žibert, who also produced the record. Each has his own distinct way of writing, and both get an equal share of the album. That’s exactly what makes the record so interesting. On the track Ajde, accordionist and keyboardist Evgen Malis gets to show off his chops too, which undoubtedly took some of the load off the two main players.
With De Profundis, Kapela La Chateliere made one of the best records in Slovenia. You can hear the influence of the wit and avant-garde spirit of their predecessors Begnagrad and Quatebriga, but Kapela are by no means content with just imitating those bands. Their style is impossible to pin down, because they play everything – from top-notch jazz rock, metal, hard rock, ambient, avant-garde and much more. Every composition is its own story, both stylistically and structurally. These guys leave nothing to chance – all the compositions are extremely polished and tightly arranged, and the solos are there only to complement the music.
Like I said, each member has his own style of composing. Čopar is mostly rooted in avant-garde and jazz rock, but he’s so good at it, and so unconventional, that he keeps surprising us with something new. Balkan Things shows off Čopar’s fondness for Balkan melodies, though there’s plenty of other stuff going on in those compositions too (some funk, among other things). Andrej brought the same flirtation with that kind of melody into his current band Miusow Quartet, and it’s really hard to say where he pulls it off better, since he managed to work these elements into his songs subtly with Kapela La Chateliere as well.
Žibert’s songwriting style is quite different. In places you can spot his love of all kinds of rock, especially hard rock, and on Silently Playing His Trumpet you could even say he’s flirting with progressive metal. Žibert also leans on plenty of more experimental approaches and brings his own take on jazz rock, but overall it’s all different from Čopar’s style. At times you can also hear more atmospheric passages and Balkan elements (similar to Čopar).
Evgen Malis contributed only one track, but it’s an important one, because it not only lightens the load for the two main songwriters but also adds an extra element of surprise and difference. You truly never know what’s coming next. His style is the darkest of the bunch and slightly recalls Univers Zero from their middle period (Heatwave), though he mixes in some wit as well.
I think the guys already knew while making this music that it wouldn’t reach a wider audience. You can hear that the record is the fruit of pure love for music, with no pretensions of fame whatsoever. And that’s how music should be. Musicians should make it for themselves and for their own joy. Whether a listener likes it is of secondary importance.
Like I said – on this album everything serves the compositions, but you can’t get past how high the playing quality of the individual players is. Andrej Čopar is undoubtedly one of the best woodwind players in Slovenia, and his style is anything but ordinary. On flute he mostly plays in a classical style, but sometimes he also uses the technique popularized by Ian Anderson. On sax he’s much more jazzy, and it seems like he’s more in the flow on that instrument. I think you could rightly call him the Slovenian David Jackson, both for his unusual playing style and for his charismatic presence.
Evgen Malis takes care of the accordion, keyboard and trombone parts. There’s nothing ordinary about him either. After Begnagrad, the accordion became a traditional instrument in Slovenian avant-garde music, and Malis leaves his mark with an excellent performance. The keyboard parts are impressive too, while the trombone is used more sparingly.
Andrej Žibert is kind of the Slovenian Dave Kerman. A multi-instrumentalist whose primary instrument is probably the drums. He’s really good on the drums, and might even fit a rock band better, since his style is pretty aggressive, but between the jazzy and avant-garde parts he shows that a softer touch isn’t foreign to him either. Žibert plays bass too, and does it brilliantly.
Marko Kodelja also appears on the album as a guest on violin, and he really shines with some gorgeous parts on Balkan Things, where the violin glows in all its glory. Even though he only comes in near the end of the first part, together with the piano and sax he delivers a dramatic twist.
De Profundis is a record every Slovenian fan of experimental music should own, because it’s just that outstanding. It captures nearly every shade of quality music. You get witty moments, dark stretches, goosebump-inducing passages, emotional twists – that’s what I listen to music for. There aren’t many records like this, and hearing this much good music right here in Slovenia is a kind of miracle in itself. De Profundis keeps surprising me again and again with its depth, playing, technical complexity and emotional color. So, an album that has it all – depth and masterful playing. If you spot it anywhere, don’t hesitate, because this is a release of immense quality.
Lineup
Andrej Čopar – flute, saxophones, WX7
Evgen Malis – accordion, trombone, DX7
Andrej Žibert – drums, guitar, bass, programming
Guest: Marko Kodelja – violin
Production
Andrej Žibert
Tracklist
1. Intro
2. Balkan Things 2
3. Balkan Things 3
4. Balkan Things 1
5. Synthesis
6. Silently Playing His Trumpet
7. The Day Impression
8. Kosovo Noise Shot
9. Internacionala Futuristica
10. Ajde
11. Preludio
12. A Kapela
