Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Dirtswitch
Label: Self-released
Release: 2011
Runtime: 50:07
Rating: 3.8/5
Let’s start with the facts: Dirtswitch are certainly a name you’ve (so far) heard precious little about on local stages, but that’s no yardstick for writing off, a priori, everything that happens to be unfamiliar to you. The lads from Naklo near Kranj, for instance, broke the ice last year and made it to the semifinal of International Live Award, the Central European contest for young music hopefuls, and with a crushing show at Vienna’s Gasometer they missed out on the final by a hair. Still, in just a single year of existence they managed to cross the Rubicons of success that many a musician or band never gets past in this envious, insecurely competitive, frustrated little country of ours. Dirtswitch soon figured out that the confines of the home chicken coop are too tight and that they deserve a yard a few paces bigger, and the proof that they’ve made all those wet dreams come true in hell of a fashion is their debut, Phoenix Down.
I won’t kid you that this is a perfect revolution, or that the guys don’t draw on a wide palette of artists who conquered radio and TV airwaves so successfully years ago, at home and around the world. I’ll also hit you right off the bat with a small sea of names that will mean something to you, and very little if you’re a slave to current fashion trends. Florida post-grungers Alter Bridge spring to mind automatically, the contours of Chad Taylor’s charisma and the faded Pennsylvania hopefuls Live lurk somewhere in the background, then add a dash of the melancholy and sweetness Staind wooed you with in 2001 and the Creed-and-Nickelback mainstream ethos, and you’ll get the rough outline of the listening experience. Nothing bad, but hardly original either, many would say, and I can only partly agree. The fact is that the bands mentioned above followed the trends of the day and tried to milk the last drops of nourishing manna from the udders of the grunge cash cow, while the Slovenian enthusiasts proceeded purely from a genuine love of the imaginary world of a once-mighty flannel realm of passion, melancholy and hard-hitting music (here I’m referring rather to the primordial world of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains and the other names that make youth, troubles and all, a time we can still look back on with sentimentality and a passionate belief in the unbreakable nature of our mental castles in the clouds …).
The record gives itself away from the first voice and chord, and judging by the slider-dirty guitar in the intro of Restraints, the guys are thoroughly schooled in the aesthetic ideals of the golden grunge section. Not even the sweet vocals of singer Luka Lamut, closer to the fairer sex’s taste, are a bother. The second comfort factor is, believe it or not, the massive, juicy guitars of Jani Nendl, backed up just right by Uroš Markič’s drums and Rok Seifert’s bass, which is plenty varied enough. Restraints is the youngsters’ contribution to the dialogue between the young Gen X, or rather the already indigo-generation kids, and the guardians and elders of the adult world on the far side of the generational chasm. We all write our own chapters and cues, hammering memorials into the bricks of our own existence, and with the opener Dirtswitch have drawn the line that leads you through the next 50 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaDBfruHsww
The arrangements are flawless, and there’s not a scrap of excess in the bombastic, high-octane alternative rock production, which makes it easy to picture the lads on big festival stages around the world. Too Much serves up more sugary rhyming, and my ears perked up most at the third track, Sulfur, which borrows its name from the masked men of Slipknot, though Dirtswitch are less murderously inclined. Another Breath softens the knees of the gentler sex with its Creed-style brushstrokes, while the metrics of the lyrics don’t break through the golden domes of this rather claustrophobic universe of pathos, a touch too sugared for my taste but still aimed at the airwaves. One of the record’s main trump cards builds on that: the likeliest hit candidate on the debut, Looking Back. Just as Scott Stapp always had the trump cards of My Sacrifice up his sleeve, Dirtswitch have penned the lines “Hey, I know it’s not too late / To make it better / Hey, are we the ones / Meant to stay together / Forever”, and I guarantee you, with the right lighting and the right company plenty of eyes will turn red, and I’m not hinting only at the proverbially more sentimental sex … Comatose packs in its bosom an ominous combination of the energy of Staind from the album Dysfunction and the elegance of Throwing Copper from Live’s discography (and if you’re more into the oriental stuff, you can even hear bits from Secret Samadhi).
It’s actually pretty obvious that the guys are versed in both heart-wrenching ballad moves and the more organic manliness of harder-edged ruthlessness. The proof comes one after another. Over & Over stirs up the so far fairly sleepy surface of the soul again, and then one of the album’s prettier ballads, Innocence, rocks you into soft mists of dreaminess. An outburst of passion and the colors of life sounds like a meditation on calm. My Story is a hyper-energetic magnet for livening up the air in the hall, and with a slightly faster heartbeat you won’t bleed needlessly from every head (and better-hidden) orifice. I’m personally more taken with the punchier rhythm of the primal riffs in Overhang, where the vocals, a shade (two or three, even) too polished and crystal clear, throw me off a bit. You may have already overdosed on those, and you miss a rawer, testosterone-unrefined scream or a raspy outburst of unbridled revolt and rage. So before the end Dirtswitch retreat to the safer, more broadly digestible shelter of ballad predictability, which the penultimate standard Forever confirms, and the album closes with the dreamy, metaphysically perfected balm of Today, wrapping the debut up into a complete and more than recommendable package for intimate evenings for two.
To all the veiled comparisons and hints of similarity to the former MTV first division, I have to admit that Phoenix Down pleasantly surprised me with its deep feel for aesthetics and arrangements. Dirtswitch managed to tailor heavy riffs to their abilities and their heart’s reach, which makes Phoenix Down a release that can genuinely expect a rich and varied road ahead. And with all the beautiful sound and gallant execution, I lay it on the lads’ conscience to open up their own registers a bit more next time, and let a devil or a less photogenic demon out into the open alongside the angels …
Lineup
Luka Lamut – vocals
Jani Nendl – guitar, backing vocals
Rok Seifert – bass
Uroš Markič – drums
Production
Tine Janžek & Dirtswitch
Tracklist
1. Restraints
2. Too Much
3. Sulfur
4. Another Breath
5. Looking Back
6. Comatose
7. Over & Over
8. Innocence
9. My Story
10. Overhang
11. Forever
12. Today
