Label; Menart Records
Production: Jernej Zoran
Release year: 2012
Genre: Hard Rock / Pop
Jernej Zoran is a Slovenian musician and creator who has been active on the Slovenian music scene for over two decades. His career wound through several lineups in the nineties; at the start of the new millennium he put out his solo studio debut »Avgustovski kosci« (2001), and then joined Društvo mrtvih pesnikov, where he stuck it out until 2010. With the arrival of Peter Dekleva and the album of rearranged original songs “Krog” (2010), D.M.P. signaled they were on the brink of big stylistic changes, while Jernej Zoran, for his part, needed even more creative freedom, something only a fresh creative challenge could give him. He found it in a new chapter of his solo path.
Jernej Zoran is a guitarist who grew up on the sounds of classic rock acts. In his playing you can feel the culmination of influences from the giants of the guitar, from Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton to, above all, David Gilmour, which makes this a truly special album for Slovenian soil. A proper classic rock album, cut the Slovenian way! It doesn’t get more under-the-skin than this, and that’s exactly where all its fascination lies.
In the eleven years since his first studio work, plenty of ideas piled up, ripened and grew into the 12 tracks of the new album »Stratosfera«. When you eyeball the cover and read the album title, your first fleeting feeling is that you’re holding a new release from some dinosaur krautrockers à la Tangerine Dream, Amon Düül,… But »Stratosfera« is a classically cut rock album, where the compactness of classically built songs (a compactness the vocal arrangements of course reinforce) shakes hands with the sheer prominence of Jernej’s guitar testimony, injected with great feeling and flair into the many roles his playing takes on within meticulously worked-out arrangements. The solo in »Osamljen potnik skozi čas« feels like a proper little erogenous confessional adventure, proving that Jernej has a superb instinct for placing guitar ornaments exactly where they amplify the moods of individual songs and conjure new ones, so we can say that »Stratosfera« has, across its whole running time, an extremely dynamic, varied richness full of contrast.
The album is a rainbow picture book of everything that embodies this artist’s exploratory musical spirit. For those of you hunting for little spiced-up pleasures in music, the cream of the album’s favorites will include the instrumental title track that opens it, and soon after it the songs Krasni novi svet? and Monsanto Baby Blues.
It’s not hard to tell from this release what an experienced, clearly profiled musician Jernej Zoran is. Every single song has a finely worked-out guitar arrangement. From the position of the chords hugging the lead vocal to the delicately refined choice of the tones themselves, resting on a combination of Jernej’s touch and effects – that combination keeps an immaculate organic feel throughout, without mangling the sound by leaning on distortion and/or similar effects. Shifts into distortion are rare, used only to underline specific moods, and even there the riffs are tuned in the production so they never take over those parts of the album. The album flirts with them more intensely in its most dramatic stretch. In the closing »Osamljen potnik skozi čas» and the hardest moment on the album, »Labodji spev«, which also wraps things up.
The album carries quite a few full-blooded vocal songs that meet the demands of heavy radio rotation, yet don’t hide their genuine rock connotation, with excellent melodic payoff, full compactness and sonic catchiness, and a graduated build of moods peaking in the choruses. The song Poljubi Me is real confessional magic, an excellent conversation between an almost »Stones-like« guitar accompaniment and the sweetly sinful vocal of Lara Poreber. Her vocal is put to great use throughout, and works especially well in the gloomy, dramatically conceived rock gem »Osamljen potnik skozi čas«. The album’s variety comes from the choice of several different lead vocalists, who masterfully bring the lyrics’ message to life. For instance, if we look for energy parallels in the rock world, Tisočletja is a successful blend of Clapton’s unforgettable lullaby Tears In Heaven (the wailing guitar lines) and Floyd’s Comfortably Numb (especially the transitional chord progression that leads the song into a new round of the verse). The song is steeped in ear-friendly guitar ornaments, »Gilmouresk« in the delicious »slide« guitar moment. Then there’s »Vegas« (after Poljubi Me and Tisočeltja) the album’s third advance single, with a chorus every bit as catchy as the previous two singles. The socially critical note in this song is deepened by the recognizable voice of Damir Lisica (Anavrin, Adam), who breathes a mildly yearning, rebellious alternative rock note into the track. The song »Lažejo« is also a special kind of adventure. The rhythmic base in the chorus, as well as the manly, vibrant vocal of Gaber Brin, can’t help but evoke Bowie’s evergreen Heroes (just subtract the »Frippertronics« soundscape of that Bowie hit, instantly). Here Jernej again fills out the full sonic picture with multiple guitar lines, and in the verse a guitar accompaniment enriched with a »stereo chorus« effect clings to the vocal.
In short, not just this song but the whole album teases the listener throughout with the cunning placement of its many guitar lines, which coexist in a perfect musical arrangement with a big expressive payoff. Jernej pulls this off completely unpretentiously, yet with full control over the creation of the musical substance. Fully succinct, with short relaxed strokes and full-blooded expressive clarity. That unpretentiousness, or minimalist approach, works to full effect in, for instance, »Vse ti dam«, where a simple guitar accompaniment is hugged by a firmly pulsing, highly flirtatious rhythmic texture. This song has a touch of pop cosmetics; in fact, it’s the moment on the album that most shamelessly flirts with pop. It might be a welcome pick for the album’s fourth single.
»Stratosfera« is an album that knows no filler minutes. 12 tracks with clearly defined character, polished lead vocal melodies, excellent arrangement craft, and a whole load of emotional impressions! It’s a release you’ll spend a long time discovering all the little details of, even though it’s totally undemanding to consume and highly catchy melodically. »Stratosfera« is a really lovely album, the kind Slovenia is short on. With its retro sound it doesn’t discover a musical revolution, but it puts missing pieces back in the mosaic of Slovenian rock history, in places that establish a genuine creative bond with world-famous rock giants. Rock nostalgics! Don’t hesitate, go check out this release of powerful expressive substance right away.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
Track list:
1. Stratosfera
2. Poljubi me
3. Krasni novi svet?
4. Tisočletja
5. Vegas
6. Monsanto Baby Blues
7. Lažejo
8. Moja dežela
9. Kaplja
10. Vse ti dam
11. Osamljen potnik skozi čas
12. Labodji spev
Lineup:
Jernej Zoran – guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, percussion
Lara Poreber – vocals (2,4,9.11)
Damir Lisica – vocals (5,12)
Gaber Brin – vocals (7)
Janez Lamovšek – vocals (8)
Sašo Đukič – vocals (10)
Miha Recelj – drums
Dušan Obradinovič – drums
Miro Tomšič
