Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Bernays Propaganda
Label: Moonlee Records
Release: 2016
Length: 34:45
Rating: 4/5
After three years, Macedonian alt-rock riders Bernays Propaganda are back in our time and space with their fourth studio album, »Politika«. They’re a band that’s seriously interesting and one of a kind on the international music scene. Over the years, Bernays Propaganda have cemented and defined a style all their own, with a musical character you recognize in a heartbeat, authentic and unique.
»Politika« is another act of artistic self-challenge from the band, opening a new chapter in the evolution of their sound and style. This time around, they’ve drifted toward the more laid-back side of arranging, with softer sonic landscapes. The album leans harder into building dreamy, introspective moods, which, over easygoing rhythmic patterns and looped repetitions, can leave the listener feeling downright »trippy«. The band didn’t bring in a drummer for this record. Instead, the rhythms are programmed and in places reinforced with programmed loops. The basic light, even »danceable« beats, layered with those loops, are underpinned by extra percussion sub-rhythms. Against such a solid rhythmic frame, Kristina Gorovska’s bold, commanding vocals once again provide the contrasting counterweight, though this time she doesn’t necessarily step into the center of everything, since the band loves to flirt with longer instrumental passages that even ripple repetitively as they search for new horizons. A good example is the first half of the six-plus-minute Poveke. Kristina also more often chooses to look for a melody in her verses rather than deliver curt, clipped commands, which in turn gets more musicality out of the album as a whole.
The influence of eighties post-punk is still there, as the deep, chunky bass lines of the opening track Politika make clear. Still, the minimalist rhythmic tricks and the touches of old-school-sounding synths even bring to mind, in passing, the NDW bands of the eighties. Don’t worry, though: there’s no danger of Bernays Propaganda wandering off into bizarre extremes of stripped-down sound structures this time (Jalova, Sakam da se zaljubam). The sound stays rich and the sonic picture is used to the full. It’s just that, all in all, the album sounds more sophisticated than the previous three studio outings. Once again the guitar is woven in very inventively to build up and reinforce the moods, with melancholy ruling the roost, and verses in Macedonian ringing through it with an irresistible pull.
Bernays Propaganda have even enriched the album’s character in places with theatrical moments of traditional folk melos, which mark the band’s geographic musical roots. These moments, too, are masterfully built into the otherwise dark, atmospheric vistas of an apocalyptic post-Orwellian dystopia, a complete devaluation of human society, where the band once again strings together a few bitter thoughts through the lyrics.
With the new album »Politika«, Bernays Propaganda keep maturing proudly, holding on to their fresh ideas and the sincerity of their artistry when it comes to bringing those very ideas to life. »Politika« is thus a fruitful, boldly measured step in the band’s constant musical transformation, which has always followed the natural path of their self-made musical perception. It’s a new record on which Bernays Propaganda tried out new things and worked them into their self-made musical catalog successfully and totally »painlessly«.
Lineup
Kristina Gorovska – vocals
Vasko Atanasoski – guitar, bass guitar
Saša Pavlovič – bass guitar
Deni Krstev – rhythm programming, synthesizers
Production
Deni Krstev
Tracklist
1. Politika
2. Armija
3. I dvete
4. Laži me, laži me
5. Jalova
6. Poveke
7. Ne sum veke ubava
8. Sakam da se zaljubam
9. Politika II (i ke dojde vreme)
