Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Marzla Vada
Label: Self-released
Release: 2005
Marzla vada is an intriguing package of five self-image-burdened uncles, whose debut Med Venero in Jupitrom is one of the latest leaps into the gloomy dimension of Alpine-foothills rock intellectualism. The band proudly puts down its roots in Lovrenc na Pohorju, which you can spot right in the name of the collective, really a dialect spin on “cold water”. This year the guys are already marching into their fifteenth year of tireless musical mischief-making, which has introduced Marzla vada to many as a pleasant refresh after the stiffness of the local music scene.
Thematically, Med Venero in Jupitrom is a pretty heavy piece of work from these electrified Pohorje characters. It builds its bizarre image on a suspicious morbidity of the kind we were used to many years ago from the otherwise incomparably more listenable Faith No More, with production as soft and polished as befits the time and place, of course. Dealing conceptually with an individual’s everyday woes is the debut’s main message. I believe that for most of the Slovenian crowd, indigestible bitterness blows through most of the album’s tracks, from the radio-groomed favorites Poglej jih and Slava jim to the sharp drum & bass battering of A jutro še ni bilo zrelo. This gloomy and mostly predictable circling around the phenomenon of personal skepticism offers no more tangible musical departure from the countless cries of despair and spiritual exhaustion we’ve heard before. Perhaps with the rare exception of Vonj po življenju, which together with Dijak works like a mighty cross between pop and punchier rock moves, spiced with a pinch of Floyd-esque ambience and the abstract undulation of keyboards. The track Veter also proves a fairly decent showcase of the band’s current reach, but with the prevailing broadcast of forever impotent goth-tinged pathos, that’s far too little for the badly needed lift in quality that would turn this album into a more digestible musical document.
With their debut, Marzla vada have ended up, as they themselves put it best, on the road to nowhere. Constantly swaying from left to right and back. At least for now. The guys certainly don’t lack courage; if anything, I’d say the enthusiasm here is maybe even a bit too obvious. Still, Med Venero in Jupitrom doesn’t offer any musical acrobatics worth mentioning. So the uniqueness of its own voice remains surely one of the album’s main aces. As for Marzla vada themselves, though, I’d honestly have a hard time vouching for their ability to topple stereotypes of the Slovenian rock scene, popular and obscure alike.
Lineup
Marko Šumer – vocals
Tomaž Gornjak – guitar
Jože Čučko – keyboards, guitar
Tadej Kojc – bass
Alan Krajnc – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Bernarda Močilnik – backing vocals
Seno Šuta – percussion
Production
Žare Pak
Tracklist
1.Zakaj človek teče
2.Poglej jih
3.Veter
4.Popoln umor
5.DM (Drugačna misel)
6.Poti
7.Svet
8.A jutro še ni bilo zrelo (tvoj pogled ob mojem)
9.Vonj po življenju
10.Dijak
11.Zmedena pesem
12.Slava jim
13.Letnik 73′
Album length: 55.21
