Label: Nika Records
Release date: 8. 11. 2024
Production: Bojan Pahljina – Puhi, Maras Tomaž – MOT & Mark Reins
Album length:
Genre: Art Rock
Rating: 9.0/10
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When Drevored drop a new studio album, it’s a real holiday for Slovenian rock ‘n’ roll, in a way. These events are just so rare. And here it is! The third one. It’s called “Sadimo vam drevesa”. The band, formed in 1979, with a break between 1989 and 2005, is back with a fresh batch of original songs seven years after its predecessor “Na zahod” (2017, RockLine review)!
Like both of its predecessors, the newest album is graced by exquisite production finesse and polished arrangements, which is just fresh proof of the great perfectionism, driven by the vigilant, razor-sharp ear and musical vision of the group’s commander, the seasoned composer, vocalist and guitarist Dušan Prosinečki. Even today, the band is a one-of-a-kind oddity on our scene. In more ways than one. Not just because of the cult and legendary status it enjoys, but because of certain qualities of character that come through in the quartet’s artistic maturity, especially in its driving force, who is of course Dušan. The band has a ‘useful stubbornness’, meaning it won’t record a track until it’s 110% convinced it has squeezed the artistic optimum out of the basic idea. And that perfectionism wouldn’t be poured into the shape of the compositions so convincingly if the band were in a rush. Drevored don’t do sloppy. They approach things holistically, with a broad vision of testing and double-checking before they put anything down on tape. So seven years is obviously the time span that suits them down to the ground. On top of that, Drevored are a homegrown, self-made band that funds everything we get from them on physical media out of their own pockets.
Rustic instruments (among them Dušan’s Rickenbacker, which blasts you back to the days of the British blues invasion or good old George Harrison) generate that guitar ‘jangle’ sound, which takes inspiration from The Beatles on one side and the Eagles on the other (of the Atlantic), while strictly expressing the artistic originality of Prosinečki and the crew. And in that respect too, Drevored are unique in Slovenia. That internalized blues and southern rock touch, knocking at the listener ‘from the background’, is here again, along with an outstanding feel for under-the-skin musical seductiveness that wins the listener over to the band’s side in an instant.
The sound is alive, warm, organic, with the imprint of a live concert’s sonic breadth. The building blocks are clearly contrasted. Audible. Tangible. With piercing depth. Their coexistence radiates how well they fit together. The band doesn’t believe in half measures. That’s why, when polishing and finalizing the sound of their records, they have always turned abroad for help throughout their career. This time they found the key to success in sound engineer Mark Reins, whose vigilance and experience squeezed an even greater expressive reach out of every point on the album. The first such example, where the finesse of the contrasting tricks conjures up real magic, is surely the third track, Gibam se! For the more demanding listeners, this one track alone will be one of the album’s mini-peaks of artistic flexibility and sonic arrangement aesthetics!
Minimalism is another name for Drevored, and this time too that minimalism deals the band a winning poker hand of aces, one that keeps paying out more and more. Being simple and concise is often a much tougher task for a composer than writing sprawling multi-minute epics and snaking songs that can (easily) lose the plot. “Sadimo vam drevesa” is a ten-track record that could spin on mainstream radio at any time, yet with an outstanding quality and breadth that reaches the very top of what Slovenian rock can do. After Gibam se comes a complete change of mood with the superb Sanjam te nocoj, which addresses you mildly darkly in the verse, with the phrase trying to escape almost into a ‘Balkan/Arabesque’ melos but not quite managing it, which makes the motif all the stronger (more special), since its peculiarity ‘teases’ the listener that much more. But that’s not the end of it. The quality of this track is built up further with a fitting escalation of mood through the pre-chorus, with the real chorus only arriving around the two-minute mark, and with teasing (highly vibrant) flirtation with mysticism in the closing stretch, as the intensity of the mood swells into a crescendo. The added percussion puts the cherry on top. Definitely one of the album’s peaks.
Once again there’s a complete turnaround as the album goes on, with the song Če res ljubiš ženo, where Dušan’s vocal interpretation of its deeply emotional, passionate payoff really sparkles, along with a poetic lesson in how to truly love. With an outstanding closing stretch! A track that belongs straight on the radio. It’s all adorned with tricks added to the basic framework of the composition – in the case of Če res ljubiš ženo, those are the added vocal harmonies that contrastingly intensify the feeling of longing in the chorus.
And so on. Let me not waste your time. The album “Sadimo vam drevesa” is an excellent product, a colorful feast of polished art rock that reaches a new, self-made moment of uniqueness, easily matching and even surpassing the artistic aesthetic of its otherwise exceptional predecessor “Na zahod”. It’s a new album that wins you over first and foremost with its outstanding musicality and rock punch, while its message hits that much harder thanks to the added ornaments that surface with repeated listens.
The songs are self-contained wholes with real character. Ideas-wise, wildly varied. Listenability is guaranteed, from the big wake-up call of the ambitious title track to the closing Pozabil sem že. Thanks to that variety, the album’s dynamics are superb. It speaks to you on a high level and the rhetoric of its grip never lets up. The playful radio hit Lovim mladost nazaj would, for instance, be perfect for the number one spot on the album, but the band decided to go with the title track, while Lovim mladost nazaj opens at least the B side of the vinyl format and so, on vinyl at least, makes the most of that opportunity.
The album is loaded with meaning. Thrillingly alive. It’s bursting with passion and fervor and shows there’s still plenty of high-octane fuel in the tank driving Drevored onward. With a brand-new, top-notch album in their pocket! It barely gets more Slovenian than this. The attachés of Dolenjska rock ‘n’ roll have thus delivered, right at the end of 2024, a definitive artistic standout for Slovenian rock, bringing a unique, unrepeatable meeting of studio camaraderie between the rustic approaches of seasoned ‘old-timers’ and the fashionable aesthetics of the present! “Sadimo vam drevesa” can only be a lesson to younger Slovenian bands, who are all too often satisfied too quickly when it comes to composing, arranging and production. “Sadimo vam drevesa” knows no artistic reserves. It’s the imprint of a band’s chock-full creativity in a new era, and it’s clear that Drevored still ‘hide’ plenty of aces up their sleeves. Until then, let’s enjoy the artistry of the newest one.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Sadimo vam drevesa
2. Gibam se
3. Sanjam te nocoj
4. Če res ljubiš ženo
5. TV
6. Lovim mladost nazaj
7. Pa me naj
8. Favona
9. Čaraj, čaraj
10. Pozabil sem že
Lineup:
Dušan Prosinečki – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Primož Hudoklin – guitar
Andrej Zupančič – bass guitar, synthesizer
Miha Recelj – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Album guests:
Jaka Janežič – saxophone
Primož Kravcar – trombone
Mark Reins – percussion
