Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Demolition Group
Label: Sintetic Production
Release: 2018
Length: 39:33
Rating: 4.5/5
»Pojdiva tja« is the new studio album from the alternative rock heavyweights out of Brežice! Big veterans of the Slovenian rock underground and of rebellion! Demolition Group. Since there’s a hefty read ahead of us, let me tell those of you who can’t be bothered to chew through it, straight up: the new album »Pojdiva tja« is, in every respect, a classic Demolition Group album. Stylistically and sonically. But it’s also a new chapter for the band. Why?
Because this album was recorded without Jože Pegam on sax. New times? Yes. In their new working environment, Demolition Group are taking artistic turns they haven’t tried until now, even though they’ve flirted with them and they’re by no means foreign to the band. The overall sound that »Pojdiva tja« offers is softer and more subtle, but by no means more radio-friendly, so let’s dismiss right away any hints of some random yearning for commercialization. Demolition Group don’t need that. There are more experimental excursions here, as the opener Vse je tu already hints. »Pojdiva tja« is the kind of album where Demolition Group, or rather Goran Šalamon, touches on personal, confessional intimacy and inner life, so the somewhat »softer« production, along with some completely new artistic directions in the songwriting, is more than welcome, since these artistic moves are in sync with Šalamon’s poetry, which this time around is intimately personal. So some of that noise and grit of abrasive rudimentariness that was still typical of the previous release has been replaced by a more finely structured sonic landscape of building blocks making up the new sound picture.
Aleš Suša and Petar Stojanovič are the new members. They bring new and different qualities compared with their predecessors. Suša, whom those who follow the doings of the Big Band RTV Slovenije will know, is technically extremely well-tuned, and that shows in the plasticity and the very skillful use of the available space in the compositions. Both in the weaving in of jazzy variations and neo-classical ones. In the compositions Aleš Suša draws on a wider range of saxophones, and Demolition Group also make use of his skills on keyboards and in programming. No less interesting a musician is Petar Stojanović from the Krško band Kontradikshn, who knows only too well the knack of fertilizing arrangements with electronic sonic touches. Demolition Group have put the qualities of both new members to good use in shaping some of the new arrangements, effectively coloring and contrastingly bringing to life the drama theater they want at specific points in the songs. Suša is omnipresent, but he doesn’t necessarily push the sax into double phrasing (guitar plus sax); rather, he often »steps away« from the guitar phrasing lines and dresses them up with extra ornaments. Stojanovič is a man of minimalist tricks who manipulates sounds very skillfully, working them most aesthetically into the massive wall of sound of the guitar phrases, which, in the doctrine of picking short but punchy minimalist tricks within individual mid eight passages, proves to be a very convincing fact. He shows that skill, for instance, in the solo section of Korak nazaj. There’s still plenty of doubled phrasing between sax and guitar, which is one of the band’s trademarks, but it doesn’t feel as dominant as, say, on the previous album. The sax and guitar lines »split« superbly in Preveč je vsega, which only confirms the extraordinary sense of how to use the available sonic landscape in the compositions by this seasoned and incredibly expressively perceptive lineup.
Given that the new album is more measured in production and arrangement (the building blocks of the picture coexist in greater balance), the rhythm section steps decisively into contrasting, emphasized prominence. It tries out even more variability and rhythmic quirks than the previous album delivered. Time and again, the extremely warm, full, organically sounding funky groove voluminousness of Tomi Gregel’s bass guitar grabs the attention, adorned with an exceptional aesthetic of many fine little tricks, with plenty of »popping« (slapping) to be heard. In this respect, the great Mark King (Level 42) himself should get to know Tomi. The bundle of trying out more sonic subtleties in the arrangements comes precisely thanks to a touch more »laid back« production, which, in exchange for the angry abrasion and bristling edge of the previous album, now emphasizes more finesse and sensuality, a new experience both for the band and for the listener (or more precisely, the band’s fans). There are of course moments where Demolition Group blow up in a more punk-fueled way. One such is Grozno sam, where Ivan Gregel impresses with a few outstanding drum fills, while on the closing title track of the album Demolition Group also flirt with the rhetoric of blues.
This is an album that’s more variable in how its compositions are crafted than its predecessor. It’s loaded with a larger dose of artistic moves that breathe sonic experimentation, which means the band is laying bare the artistic pose of its own, self-grown, personal musical ID card. That doesn’t mean the new album is worse or better than the earlier ones. It’s simply an honest reflection of the state of new times, which have led Demolition Group along the natural path of self-grown evolution to the point where it was necessary to reach for new artistic challenges.
The renewed Demolition Group have steered through these new challenges with distinction, and based on the artistic image of the new album, it’s fair to conclude that »Pojdiva tja« gives the band an excellent platform for a heap of new development possibilities along the path of self-grown evolution, ones that Demolition Group can try out in the future and add to their musical dossier. That dossier has to remain a constant, which the new (and just different enough) “Pojdiva tja” also successfully maintains. New times, new situation. A superb new album. In short. No, anyone who thought things would go downhill after Joco’s departure will have to take another close look at the band’s new situation this time. The band has by no means lost its compass, and Pojdiva tja delivers a gorgeous addition to its older studio siblings in the band’s rich discography. Demolition Group are nowhere near having said their last word, and with such a potent crew, Goran Šalamon will surely deliver a heap of musical delights in the future. In this new era, what’s expected of Demolition Group is thus a continued full-blooded artistic bloom!
Line-up
Goran Šalamon – vocals
Petar Stojanović – guitar
Aleš Suša – saxophone, keyboards
Tomi Gregel – bass guitar
Ivan Gregel – drums
Matjaž Pegam – sound, production
Production
Demolition Group
Track list
1. Vse je tu
2. Zvezde so onstran
3. Korak nazaj
4. Napačna midva
5. Grozno sam
6. Preveč vsega
7. Nostalgija
8. Se vidiva jutri
9. Pojdiva tja
