Label: Self-released
Production: Dejan Berden
Album length: 58:15
Rating: 10 / 10
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»Sintur« is the third album from Murska Sobota’s džeZZva and their second proper studio album overall. The years slip by quietly, and almost four of them have passed since the release of the wildly daring debut »džeZZva« (2014), with which the brave Prekmurje lads firmly and clearly defined their musical dossier and convinced both the home crowd and listeners abroad that this is an exceptionally high-quality band with no shortage of creative quirks. If Tolmin has Feedback, Idrija has Divje Jezero and Ljubljana has Moonlight Sky, then Murska Sobota has džeZZva. Four musical worlds of virtuoso experimentation and four completely different musical stories, yet music gourmets will find the common denominators in them pretty quickly, and just as quickly adopt the music of all four as their own.
The džeZZva quartet is seriously experienced. Dejan Berden, the band’s mastermind, has tried his hand at writing music across a colorful palette of genres over his career. He has put out a dozen albums, both his own and ones made together with plenty of prominent names on the domestic scene. He’s an incredibly prolific composer and all-round musician who, to this day, remains one of the best-guarded secrets of the Slovenian music scene. We profiled Berden in more detail in our review of his studio album »Fluid«. »Sintur« follows Berden’s free-spirited musical “adventurism” and is an album on which džeZZva serve up some musical moves they haven’t tried before. Don’t get me wrong, though. The premise of tradition is stressed on the new album too, especially thanks to the generous use of Dejan Berden’s piano, the old-timey resonance of Mojmir Wolf’s double bass, and the way the motifs often pick up bits of traditional melos from the Prekmurje plains. They don’t force it, it just pulls them in, which is no surprise given that they grew up on Prekmurje soil.
džeZZva dive into the content of »Sintur« with ambition and full-on zeal. They open with a punch, with the solid motif of the opening track Sintur, but then the album gets loosened up in a thoroughly fusion way by the mini suite Sedem. It’s an ambitiously arranged composition over twelve minutes long, full of motivic upheavals, unexpected turns and mood swings. It’s on this track that džeZZva conjure up that veil of mystique for the first time in a big way, especially in the parts where Iztok Rodež “colors” Berden’s piano feats in the background with collages of guitar “soundscapes”. džeZZva play with huge enjoyment and you can feel it at every step of the new album’s essence. It’s incredibly heartfelt and unbelievably honest.
The first half of the album gets properly “tangled up” in the track Svobodno čez obzorje. The dialogue of high-spirited improvisations is led across the album mainly by Iztok and Dejan, and in this very track their dialogue hits its peak. It’s an outstanding band jam that doesn’t let the listener breathe. The tracks Balldar and, after it, Zimske misli are skillfully placed in the middle of »Sintur« and give a breather from the adventurism of the jazz-rock fusion in the first four tracks. They’re arranged more compactly, the expression takes on the character of art rock with outlines of progressive rock, and the band shows remarkable sensitivity in how the musicians read one another, along with great filigree finesse in the performance itself. džeZZva crank up their subtlety in Zimske misli. It’s a gentle, fragile track, whose tenderness ties in nicely with the “awakening” character of the track Spring from the debut. On »Sintur« džeZZva also flirted with one more novelty. They wrote a vocal track. Still, the vocal keeps hunting for unconventional musical lines that pleasantly surprise the listener and “tease” with their oddness. With the very bright, almost virginal approach of singer Lina Rahne, the track Preplet delivers one of the most striking compositional departures on the album, and the mystique of the Prekmurje plains virtuously comes back to life here once again. In this track džeZZva set the poetry of poet Milan Vincetič to music. The reworking of the folk song Ne orji, ne sejaj later on the album is so adventurously and jazz-rock-fusion loosened up that you barely “catch” its main motif in passing, and it works on the album much like one of its best tracks, the already mentioned mini epic suite Sedem. Toward the end, džeZZva in their version of Ne orji, ne sejaj completely “blow up” again with solos. And NO, at the end of the album the closing Bruzel has a similar effect to the opening Sintur. It serves up just the right dose of playfulness and motivic compactness at the same time, and effectively keeps the listener glued to it right to the very end. The closing Bruzel stands on an “off-kilter” rhythmic key and slips arabesques into the melos itself. With its interesting structure and development it gets the listener ready to spin the album all over again. »Sintur« gives the overall feeling that džeZZva have been even bolder and braver in realizing their ideas than on the debut.
“Expect the unexpected.” »Sintur« will cast a spell on you, just like džeZZva enchanted us with their 2014 debut. But »Sintur« is a different kind of record, one that keeps the band’s trademark daring, adventurous, exploratory jazz spirit alive, with uniquely and totally unpretentious touches of melos from the Prekmurje region that “color” the look of the songs more by chance and spontaneity than by džeZZva deliberately forcing that tradition on the listener. Like the studio debut, »Sintur« is an album played with a whole lot of fun. With tons of insight and fresh ideas. With devilish dynamite in the fingers and great fire. It speaks to you in a relaxed way and in a spirit of honest truthfulness that knows and admits no limits of expression. In other words, it pours their inner creative genius into a unique musical language. »Sintur« deepens the singular musical dossier of this superb and utterly fascinating band!
»Sintur« is an album that draws you in with great allure. If you enjoy musical oddness that boldly combines tradition and experimental adventurism, »Sintur« will keep you thrilled all the way through. It grabs slowly. On the first spin it mostly shocks and even feels more experimental than the studio debut. With further spins, though, you music gourmets will make the album your own, as you gradually uncover all the details of its rich musical message. Veil by veil. An outstanding achievement, and I can already say without mincing words that it’s one of the highlights of this year’s releases in the Slovenian musical universe when it comes to good jazz. With »Sintur« the band will once again take off very effectively onto the concert stages of international venues. A record they can be seriously proud of, and one that, let’s hope, džeZZva will play live from start to finish at upcoming shows. In its entirety, that is.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1.Sintur
2. Sedem
3. Tink
4. Svobodno čez obzorje
5. Balldar
6. Zimske misli
7. Preplet
8. Ne orji, ne sejaj
10. Bruzel
Lineup:
Dejan Berden – piano
Iztok Rodež – guitar
Mojmir Wolf – double bass
Miran Celec – drums, percussion
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Lina Rahne – vocals on track no. 7
