Artist: Zbogom, Ajda
Label: Self-released
Release: 2012
Length: 33:11
Rating: 3.9/5
Zbogom, Ajda, quite possibly even the first Slovenian post-rock band, still remains hidden, unknown, deliberately scrubbed away and without any ties to the Slovenian music scene. The debut Statika (RockLine review HERE) flew over our territory completely unheard. The non-existent fans never got any gigs, and never got any other word about the lineup either. And then, basically out of nowhere, last year, i.e. 2012, the band’s second record dropped – Med Zarjo. It got even less self-promotion than the first one – 4chan’s /mu/ wasn’t extensively »spammed«, the record’s existence was noted only on some totally remote foreign forum, and later on the band’s profile on the popular music site last.fm. Still, this obscurity is practically the only thing worth mentioning that hasn’t changed since the debut (apart from the lineup, though even that isn’t clear).
If Statika was a kind of attempt at copying the shadow of probably the biggest band in post-rock, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, then the band’s second album Med Zarjo is the step I wanted them to take – a step toward creative independence. Med Zarjo sheds the (more obvious) influences that Statika wore on its cover, and in doing so it even steps out of the global post-rock average and becomes a full-on one-of-a-kind. Med Zarjo takes one element that already shows up on Statika with a sort of bizarre folksiness – the influence of folk music – and pushes it way up front. Folk strongly dominates the second album, or better said – folk blends brilliantly with the post-rock sound that was already there, with the atmosphere the band had already built on the debut. But of course the whole thing isn’t that simple, since the band definitely didn’t progress or reinvent itself in just that one way.
The very first track on the album, called »Moj oče«, opens a new chapter for the band in a thoroughly experimental, daring and singular light. Eva’s dreamy vocals, backed by a ton of effects against an otherwise typical post-rock backdrop of reverb-soaked atmosphere, push the intro toward a kind of breakdown, almost to the point of self-oscillation; once again the element I’d hoped for more of is front and center – Eva’s voice. Even on Statika it was her vocals that made the standout moments, rather than Andi’s, which sadly hasn’t improved much for Med Zarjo. Anyway – the intro of the first track alone sets Med Zarjo on a totally different path from the one Statika was on, a mysterious, unexpected and therefore far more interesting and exciting one. That of course doesn’t mean the band no longer sticks to typical post-rock forms, but here they’re used to its advantage, not against it, as maybe on the debut. Med Zarjo also loses the calmer side of the debut, since it has more heavier parts, which can be put down to the use of drums, something that wasn’t there before. So at times it might seem like the band jumped from one cliché (too much of one band’s influence on the writing) into another (the typical post-rock quiet-loud-quiet formula), but for the most part that’s not the case, at least not to the point of being obvious or bothering the listener.
Experimentation is a (big) part of the new album, yet at the same time the band has gone down a more conventional road, at least in one respect. The album is often graced with an almost poppy melodicism, mostly through the vocals. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that it would all turn out better if Andi didn’t sing, because he simply has no singing talent; he could have used it for some background texture, buried it under effects and conjured up a sort of shoegaze equivalent of a vocal. But as things stand, Andi’s vocals too often get the lead role, which makes things, well, a bit unpleasant for the ears. Eva’s voice does the opposite, and it’s even more fleshed out than on Statika. In the vocal sections, that somewhat unique folk approach to the rhythmic foundation of chords or picking individual strings stands out, all wrapped in a typical post-rock atmosphere, which lets the band distance itself at least a little from the bigger genre trademarks (or rather, clichés). The heavier parts (and the ambient ones too) have more orchestration and a bigger sound than on Statika, which is definitely a welcome change.
Med Zarjo is therefore certainly a step up from the band’s debut, but far from some lofty excellence. I don’t know what will happen with Andi’s vocals, but sadly, as they are, they don’t work, especially not in the form they take on Med Zarjo (and on Statika too). The album is also graced with certain experimental touches that give it the potential for repeated listens and for uncovering its many layers, but maybe the real forté of the songs lies in a newly discovered melodicism, in some »catchy« lines that simply go straight to your ear. And that’s where the first glimmer of potential genius already shows – a perfect balance between the conventional and the unconventional, the known and the unknown, pop and alternative, and finally between static inexperience and Med Zarjo.
Lineup
Andi Koglot – guitar, piano, vocals, drums, ambient sounds, lyrics
Eva – vocals
Production
Andi Koglot
Tracklist
1. Moj oče
2. Slutnja
3. Vodnjak
4. Pesem o zvezdah
