Venue: Klub Zakon, Vrhnika, Slovenia
Concert date: 26.04.2007
Attendance: 40
Ticket price: 6 euros
It’s been half a year since the release of the album The Guide, and in that time Melodrom have pretty much nailed down the vision of the sound that carries their songs on stage. Those songs have slowly turned into proper classics, so it’s no surprise they hold a hefty monopoly over the band’s setlist.
So the Vrhnika club Zakon witnessed an almost ironclad setlist that revolves around a central axis: the current album. The whole set, a good hour long, served up songs that are by now well-rehearsed and don’t stray far from their permanent shape, as captured on the record. No virtuoso detours, then, but there is a constant common thread, which shows mostly in the precise, rather mathematical delivery of the songs. One thing that has clearly captivated Melodrom by far the most is experimenting with electronic sounds, which already feel completely at home next to the other instruments, yet it’s exactly those electronic touches that set them furthest apart from the musical present and place them in a kind of sentimental timelessness.
The song selection is currently such that you can hear Melodrom exclusively in English and in a musical form that borders more and more on disco genre-wise. That sound is emphasized even further by their stage attitude, since all the instruments, vocals included, strive for one very unified group sound and look, building on a single, almost uniform representation with no one standing out. If anything stands out, it’s the aforementioned sound effects, which Matevž (Kolenc) has lately been devoting a lot more attention to, thereby placing (his) guitar squarely in the rhythm section.
For anyone who hasn’t caught the band on the current tour yet, the evening was definitely a quality look inside, into the intimate heart of the new songs. For those who’d already had the chance to hear these songs live, or who’d never met the band at all, the gig was a very pleasant way to spice up the evening. And anyone who was hoping for more songs from the debut will probably have to wait a while, until the songs from The Guide have had time to settle, since right now they’re in their springtime. And that spring is blooming lushly.
Still, a few songs from the debut did make an appearance: “Material Talk”, “Prenzlauer Allee” and of course the always obligatory “September”, which usually brings the whole show to a close. This time the crowd also picked it as the last song of the night. Mina (Špiler) probably missed that, but she caught some of the other suggestions and answered on behalf of the band: “we never grant wishes, at most we’re good at predicting which song to play.” Wolf fed, goat safe.
End of the song, end of the gig, and slowly the end of Friday night too. And it was a pleasant night.
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