Label: Dallas Records
Release year: 2014
Production: Dejan Radičevič & Eskobars
Album length: 35.07
Genre: Alternative Rock / Indie Rock
Eskobars are back after three and a half years with a new studio record, “Ni dovolj.” With their self-titled debut they showed off some seriously confident packaging. It doesn’t spark a musical revolution, but it gives the band enough room to grow its own homegrown identity. The debut, with its calling card handed over so appealingly, turned heads and signaled that a new, talented act was rising on the horizon. On it, the band landed on a handful of hugely catchy solutions with real musical appeal, serving up a confident blend of alternative rock in which Britpop influences, classic rock ‘n’ roll and blues mix together, all drenched in that typical Slovenian alt-flavored melody.
With “Ni dovolj,” Eskobars try to take a step further toward a commercial breakthrough. The album brings more punch and an attempt to recap the anthemic marching beat of Britpop acts like Franz Ferdinand. You run into this right at the opening with the title track, and they don’t hide it in the middle of the record with Dej povej, toward the end with Ocean, or at the tail end with Bele zastave either. The album follows an optimized singability that’s trying to hit you like an invasion: infectious, at least on first listen, of course. The record is packed with super light, relaxed, party-ready rock bangers that you really can’t fault for their arrangements. The production is clear and richly contrasted, the building blocks breathe and coexist in exemplary symbiosis. The production carefully puts the bass “groove” front and center, anchoring the dance-driven rhythmic momentum of the songs. Even the revitalized arrangement of Potnik, which also appears on the debut “Eskobars,” can’t escape it.
Already on the debut, Eskobars made it clear they make music in short, thoughtful, carefully measured steps, where the axiom “less is more” rules. “Ni dovolj!” is also an album of tight, concise exposition. The band has clearly poured most of its creative energy into conquering the Slovenian musical “mainstream.” In terms of songwriting insight, “Ni dovolj!” no longer thrills as catchily as the debut “Eskobars” did, and it serves up more of the already tried-and-tested stuff. This bag of infectious melody, dancey momentum and occasional bombast in the choruses surely makes for a great starting point for winning over crowds at live shows, but still, that less pleasant feeling sneaks up on you “from the right flank”: the sense that this time around Eskobars are favoring ideas that will satisfy the tastes of the masses to such a degree that originality ends up taking a back seat.
However you look at it, Eskobars show once again with this new album that they’re excellent, talented musicians who know exactly how to deliver an infectious, instantly effective musical arrangement of real substance, one that breathes as a whole. But even though “Ni dovolj!” is a properly arranged and produced record that will surely bring a bundle of live favorites, it risks, at many points along the way, sacrificing individuality in order to please the tastes of the masses and repackage already-heard tricks of today’s (even MTV-sounding) alt rock pulse.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 8.0 / 10
Track list:
1. Ni dovolj
2. Vidim ti v očeh
3. Hladne noči
4. Hodim naprej
5. Dej povej
6. Iluzija
7. Potnik
8. Ocean
9. Tri pike
10. Bele zastave
Lineup:
Jure Lesar – vocals, guitar
Teo Collori – guitar
Rok Druscovič – bass
Bogdan Sojič – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Jani Hace – bass
Nikola Sekulovič – bass
Anže Langus – Dagi – bass
Jure Rozman – drums
CONTRIBUTING MUSICIANS:
Sašo Fajon
Benjamin Shock
Matjaž Šušmelj
Sara Havliček
Drago Popovič
