Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Šlajn
Label: Celinka
Release: 2018
Length: 32:35
Rating: 4.5/5
Šlajn are a new Slovenian outfit sworn to forging little songs, typically welded together under the skies of the sunny side of the Alps. What sets them apart is that they flirt openly with country and country rock tunes. Given that this music is written by Slovenes, we can’t skip past the cabaret-drama-theater angle, which brings a heaping helping of fun tomfoolery to the debut “Ljubezenske”.
Šlajn are four strapping fellas, “sharply dressed” gentlemen, and their home turf is Notranjska. Drive over that way to Lake Cerknica, where, believe it or not, there lives a species of fish that’s part of the lake’s former native ichthyocenosis. That’s the fish community that was already there in the days of Janez Vajkard Valvasor, which means long before »fish management« came into fashion and they dumped in rudd and the rest of the fish vermin that has no business being there. There have even been known attempts to introduce marble trout, but let’s leave that aside. Anyway, this famous fish, which has survived every cross and hardship, still lives in Lake Cerknica. It’s called šlajn, which the people of Notranjska probably borrowed from German, where the same fish goes by »Schleie«, which in standard Slovenian is linj (Tinca tinca), the tench. The šlajn also graces the cover of the album by the band Šlajn, titled »Ljubezenske«. And if you’ve been at least a little bit good, it can also be a synonym for that little fish that grants you three wishes.
The lyrics are simple and direct, and without beating around the bush they talk about… love. Not the unconditional, Christ-style kind, who turned the cheek at will, now left, now right, but love of a much more everyday sort. Which is (at least on the surface) simpler. They’re about the ups and downs of love between a man and a woman.
The tunes are set in major keys, unpretentious, they grab you right away, and that means you can put on »Ljubezenske« whenever you feel like it, it’s that undemanding and that infectiously appealing to the listener. Everything on it clicks. The tracks are compact, the arrangements chiseled, the melodies accessible, the production organic and lively, and it’s all topped off by robust, convincing musicianship. The interplay of guitar, banjo and mandolin, the building blocks of the album’s predominantly country character, is outstanding! Šlajn can also be devilishly fast (Zvezda karnevala, Jaz bom doma ostal). Smaal Tokk jump into the story too (Moja punčka), which deepens the album’s humorous side.
While less demanding listeners will quickly adopt this album and will be all in on the humor and country tomfoolery with plenty of banjo flourishes, the gourmets (with a bit of necessary patience) will discover the versatility and hair-splitting refinement of guitarist Gašper Kržmanc. He’s an exceptional guitar talent, as Gašper vividly showed already in Nula Kelvina (and he keeps at it). Sure, when we listen to Šlajn, you can find a few parallels with Nula Kelvina, not so much because of Gašper’s playing, although some of that stuff also found a place on the new Nula Kelvina album “Kdo za vraga so Nula Kelvina?”, as because of the nature of the songs themselves. The two bands are certainly kin in their cabaret theater, but above all in their occasional energetic, character-wise likeness, which aims especially at the vein of coaxing out lucidity, humor and that love drama where men, with their occasionally tactless childishness, always draw the short straw with women and then come around to repent. If the ending is a happy one, the girls take them back.
Gašper is incredible. On this album he shows off some virtues that totally surprise. He handles the banjo with unbelievable skill, and he also reveals some guitar tricks you don’t get in Nula Kelvina. We got to experience his multilayered finesse on the album »Klemen Kotar in dušni pastirji«, but the album »Ljubezenske« is once again a different story in this respect. Here we get country Gašper, who occasionally slips in a bluesy tune (Uvodni ples), along with a whole heap of little filigree tricks that he sticks into mid-eight passages, lead phrases, transitional parts, and the outros and intros of the songs. Fingerpicking (Jaz grem) is deeply familiar territory for him, and at moments the whole playing is so teasing that it could easily veer into some ragtime »wisecracking«. Gašper is a big lover of natural tones, which he coaxes out of the guitar. Sensual and organic is the sonic »hair-splitting, when it comes to shaping tones. It’s also worth noting that Gašper occasionally colors these tones with very effective emotion, which is far from an easy thing and the mark of a true guitarist, perhaps even his greatest artistic-expressive challenge. Surely Gašper listened to plenty of aces in his time, like Greg Koch, Michael Landau, Carl Verheyen, Sonny Landreth, Warren Haynes, Colin Linden, Steve Dawnson… Even the »titanic Nashville trio« of Bob Ferguson, Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins would crack a smile at this album. Country swing? Absolutely. If »Jaz grem« was a fun vocal number in this regard, the instrumental »Kje si, miška mala?« is the moment where the guitar, combined with Gašper Kržmanc’s banjo, shines in full light. It even offers a great backdrop for the script of some burlesque of the kind the famous Benny Hill used to make.
The boys don’t run out of dynamite. The sharp content of this album will keep you endlessly entertained throughout. From start to finish you’ll witness full-sound fun, looseness, exuberance, big-time cheek and positive vibes. Excellent musicianship, with the gorgeous vocal tenor of Sašo Kovačič, whose vocal color couldn’t fit the whole Šlajn story any better than it does.
In terms of poetry, the album really works as a story made up of several smaller stories. A love story made of ten little stories. So the album has a common thread. The girls will swoon when Šlajn play on stage and Sašo teases them with his poetry! They’re certainly a band giving off a vibe all their own, a chemistry all their own, and we’ve never had anything like this here.
Lineup
Sašo Kovačič – vocals
Gašper Kržmanc – guitar, banjo, mandolin
Klemen Krajc – bass guitar
Goran Kovačević – drums
Production
Gašper Kržmanc
