Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Lovšin, Peter
Label: Strela Records
Release: 2017
Length: 43:12
Rating: 4/5
Peter Lovšin. New album. Why? Because he can. A man who has seen every era of Slovenian rock’n’roll, and then some, is back with a fresh studio document. These days the title »Območje medveda« (“Bear Territory”) can mean plenty of things. In our times of general capitalist degradation of mother nature and the planet, let’s hope conservation is among them.
Our good old »Perči Gnus« doesn’t change his stripes, then. What you see is what you get. It’s a delight that the new album, featuring a colorful guard of excellent Slovenian musicians, has more rock in it than I dared hope for at first. Once again it openly radiates that all-too-familiar cheeky, mocking side of the solo-path tomfoolery of a music legend. Once again there are moments of lazy lounging and soft, easy rhythms, where it’s not hard to picture a tour group of uncles with too much money and a midlife crisis, swaying to calypso beats in Hawaiian shirts somewhere far, far away, lost in the Pacific islands. In that respect, Taka taka and Na tak način are exactly what you’ve come to demand from every Lovšin solo record.
It’s good that Lovšin wanted collaborations with three bands that lean hard on rock’ n’ roll. Next to the predictable moments (Junak odpora, Ko gre vse k vragu), they bring a very welcome dynamic shake-up to how things unfold. First up are Lovšin’s own Pankrti, with the song (To ni več) Slovenija. That’s the socially critical moment of the album, and a morsel that could easily slot into any Pankrti album. In a song like that, you realize again and again just what kind of musical nature of rock’n’roll Lovšin’s vocal presence (still) reacts with best, chemically speaking. On Ti lahko, the whole Big Foot Mama crew joins Peter, an enormously successful experiment: the quintessential Slovenian take on mixing rock’n’roll with punk raggedness. The album’s most incandescent moment, though, is the blues swinger Na dobri poti, which comes off especially attractive thanks to a raging improvisational seasoning, with the unbridled potency of the blues rock stallions from Prismojeni profesorji bluesa feeding straight into the song’s character. Najina pesem and Briga me dobrodošlo, spiced with pronounced guitar phrases and solid, booming rhythms, keep the rock moment alive on the album even as it slides toward the closing stretch. The last song on the album, Trije grozdeki, even adds a touch of Celtic folk, a bold detour from the »expected«.
Anyway, Peter Lovšin remains a phenomenon of his own. The poetry is clear, cut in Ljubljana slang. The pen goes at the messages directly again, no detours, straight up, brazen, rascally, with no respect, and of course, as always, hilariously funny with it all. On the vocal front, »Območje medveda« brings a new »zombilation« that only Peter Lovšin can create on the mic. His value lies precisely in the fact that he was never actually famed as a singer in the typical sense of the word. This very »abnormality« of Peter Lovšin’s vocal charisma remains, on the new album too, his winning poker hand of aces and the guarantee that the new ideas work, no matter the genre formatting of the songs: idiosyncratic, recognizable, unique. »Lovšin-esque«, in a word.
No more, no less. Fans of the unique charisma of a living legend of Slovenian rock’n’roll already have Peter’s new album at home. And there are quite a few of them. They’ll be satisfied. »Območje medveda« is yet another achievement, welded together from a proven, ignition-ready recipe: simple, short and punchy compositional moves, with a very efficient payoff from the axiom »less is more«. With it, Peter confirms what a seasoned musical craftsman of Slovenian rock’n’roll he remains, even in the mature years of his musical craft.
Peter Lovšin – Ti lahko (& Big Foot Mama) – official video:
Lineup
Peter Lovšin – vocals
Matej Mršnik – guitar
Roki Pogačnik – guitar, backing vocals
Kris Guštin – guitar on track 1
Marc Kavaš – guitar on track 2
Bogo Pretnar – guitar on track 2
Daniel Gregorič – guitar on track 5
Zoran Čalić – guitar on track 5
Julijan Erič – guitar on track 8
Miha Erič – harmonica on track 8
Denis Horvat – keyboards
Martin Štibernik – keyboards on track 12
Tone Šemrl – bass guitar on tracks 1 and 10
Miha Ribarič – bass guitar on track 8
Jani Hace – bass guitar on tracks 3, 4, 9 and 11
Alen Steržaj – bass guitar on tracks 5, 6 and 12
Boris Kramberger – bass guitar on track 2
Bojan Krhlanko – drums
Slavko Colnarič – drums on track 2
Jože Habula – drums on track 5
Zlatko Đogić – drums on track 8
Super Action Heroes – trombone, trumpet, baritone saxophone
Anja Ropotar – backing vocals
Sanja Lamprečnik – backing vocals
Grega Skočir – backing vocals on track 5
Žan Krajnc – backing vocals
Simon Cukjati – backing vocals
Španski borci – backing vocals on track 11
Žare Pak – programming on track 7
Production
Žare Pak
Track list
1. Preden pade mrak
2. (To ni več) Slovenija – Pankrti
3. Utrink
4. Taka Taka
5. Ti lahko & Big Foot Mama
6. Ko gre vse k vragu
7. Na tak način
8. Na dobri poti & Prismojeni profesorji bluesa
9. Junak odpora
10. Najina pesem
11. Briga me
12. Trije grozdeki
