Self-released
Release date: June 19, 2021
Production: Drago Popovič
Genre: Rock / Pop / Blues
Rating: 9.0/10
After Hamo And Tribute 2 Love dropped their fourth studio album “4K” in 2019, everything was looking rosy for the band. Not only had they served up the most mature record of their career to date, but the stages of Slovenia were also waiting for them with open arms and open hearts, willing and hungry.
In a relatively short time, and seemingly out of nowhere, the band won huge popularity in Slovenia, along with a serious demand on the live circuit, and by now you could slowly put them in the same breath as the biggest rock acts around here, like Mi2, Dan D, Siddharta and Big Foot Mama. Well, okay. Let’s put it more carefully: Hamo And Tribute 2 Love are chasing that connection very successfully.
Matevž Šalehar, “aka Hamo”, could hardly have pulled all this off alone, without the superb crew of musicians backing him, a lineup that has seen minimal changes over the years. Actually just one, but it shook the band up properly. Bringing Peter Dekleva on board was a huge gain for Hamo and the crew. With him, not just the songwriting but the very interpretation of the music went up a notch or two, for sure. Peter is one of the most refined, distinctive and versatile guitar masters and musical talents around, and the moment he joins any band (whatever the genre), he brings not just change, but a fresh, progressive transformation and artistic growth.
In my hands I’m holding a live album on vinyl called “Iz4kani skorlajv”. Inside the sleeve there’s Matevž’s humorous essay about what went down at the turn of 2019 into 2020. Let me make it short. The band got an irresistible idea: to record the concerts where they played their current studio album “4K” in full in an unplugged version. Once they tried it for the first time and felt that special chemistry and magic, there was no resisting it anymore. Well, fate had other plans. After a few technical mishaps, where the concerts weren’t captured even though they were being recorded, the pandemic was declared on top of everything, and the band had to go into isolation like everybody else. And yet. With no other way around it, one day they headed to their studio and played the whole concert behind closed doors. By the new rules. In isolation. In an unplugged version. With no audience. Hence the album’s title: it’s live, but not quite as live as the band would have wanted, so they meaningfully named it “almost live.”
Intimate vibe. Heart on your sleeve. A different story. A new story. A new experience. New joys. You know how it is with acoustic, right? You hear everything and there’s nowhere to hide. Every slip-up comes out. Sure, the band might have fixed a thing or two, but for the average listener, and I count myself among them, the contents of this (almost) concert document get under your skin in an instant, because Hamo And Tribute 2 Love are unbelievably real, heartfelt, sensual and devoted in everything they do. And on that day they were in very good form. In a great live mood.
The band is tight as hell. No surprise there. Nothing shocking. The members know each other down to the last detail. The nature of the album “4K” is pretty dreamy. There are no fast songs. In a setting adapted to an acoustic variation, interesting options open up. The band definitely enriched the transitions and motifs with extra bits of playful, cheeky mischief, as dictated by the moment of inspiration that ruled the studio that day. The sound? Warm, organic, velvety. The building blocks of the sonic picture are brilliantly arranged around the central figure, Hamo’s deeply felt, passionate vocals. The active bass lines add a really lovely contrast, especially in moments like the song Naprej, where whole arrangements of the track just float along on them. The Hammond sound and electric piano gain a special charm in such an intimate, acoustic setting, the kind that music played in an intimate space, where you can hear a sewing needle hit the floor, picks up in the glow of specially crafted atmospheric contrasts. In short. Across the album, the band builds an intense mood of colorful, theatrical atmospheric contrasts, powered by honest and sensual delivery of passion.
Maturity, experience. The moment. Immortalizing it. The magic of the moment. The magic of feelings that fill the room and that you surrender to. Well, the live moment, as the band didn’t quite imagine it at first, still delivers everything in what it brings. It brings the aural essence of rock and roll. The sensual aesthetic of the performance, the imprint of the band’s unique genome, has thus found a wonderful embodiment on this (almost) live document. An album that hits you with the manifesto of exceptional chemistry and the working temperature the band was warmed up to that day.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
Side A.
1. Lažnivec (Povej Ej)
2. Naprej
3. Prva vrsta
4. Zbudi me iz dna
Side B.
1. Ta zadn zemljan
2. Pomlad
3. Svoboda
4. Lepe stvari
Lineup:
Matevž Šalehar – Hamo – vocals and guitars
Denis Horvat (Duki) – keyboard instruments and vocals
Uroš Škerl Kramberger (Hipi) – bass and basses
Martin Janežič (Buco) – drums, percussion and whistling
Peter Dekleva – guitars, wizardry services
