Artist: BHC
Label: Self-released
Release: 2011
Length: 51:31
Rating: 4/5
BHC are a seriously good band from Novo mesto. Their self-titled studio debut proved it. The new album, released this spring, only cements the status of this four-piece.
The band is developing a distinctive rock approach built on a strong rhythmic backbone, one that makes no secret of its unbridled camaraderie and its flirtation with the charisma of funk. It’s easy to feel that the bonds between the members have grown even tighter in the three years since the debut. Given the (already mentioned) boldness of their studio predecessor, the new songs come across as even more compact and mature. I’m thinking of an incredibly warm, living, organic sound that breathes freely and pulses dynamically (“grooves”) through the album’s running time. Listening to it leaves you with the convincing feeling that the band played a proper little gig in the studio.
In the arrangements, the band took a more controlled, more polished approach and so achieved a greater sense of tightness in the songs, which is the fruit of their creators’ artistic maturing. In other words, a healthy step forward. Jernej Darovec’s vocal approach has progressed too, and he sounds far more assured delivering verses, wonderfully authoritative and, to put it simply, more confident. Jazz funk rock fusion has always felt like home to Slovenes. BHC can be treated as a very, very sophisticated offshoot that found its purpose in tinkering with elements of pop on one side, and with alternative but rhythmically catchy rock “groove” on the other. A comparison with Srečna mladina isn’t all that far-fetched either. It’s Slovenian in manner, and it smells thoroughly Slovenian. A true Slovenian rock album, then!
Songs like the punchy opener Jezdeci or the title track Pot do sonca are the kind that would be perfect for heavy rotation on the radio. They serve up the band’s true face on a platter in the most effective way, along with their artistic point, embodied in a great feel for combining complexity with remarkable accessibility. BHC demonstrate their artistic growth through much bolder verse-writing too, deepening the band’s lucid – mischievous character (Debela lunica, Hruška, Nosečismo), while on the flip side the guys can turn deadly serious in an instant, as they do in the verses of Jezdeci, which makes no secret of its message about the total moral devaluation of Slovenian society in 2011. A great message that calls for absolute change in every sphere of our lives, and that should bring in a young generation unburdened by the past and by greed, so it can finally establish order and a culture of governing! The guys can also be cynical (Postajava podobna si).
Even though BHC’s musical vocabulary is more or less cemented in its basic funk groove rock leanings, there are more than noticeable interesting detours on the album. For example, where funk moves closer to pop retro-style is the verse of the souped-up funk number Majhne luknje, which, in its active bass line and the laying down of clean guitar chords, recalls the Wham hit Wham Rap! But since the band’s musical mindset is thoroughly free-spirited, even this song quickly and quite unexpectedly turns into a far more amped-up continuation of the same story. Then again, Debela lunica is the record’s standout moment, a witty exercise in keeping things tight within an otherwise multilayered arrangement structure that gradually and unpredictably flips the moods inside it. The wacky, deliberately chaotic outro of this song makes no secret of the fact that the band grew up on the sounds of groups like Living Colour, Shocka Zooloo and even Fate No More. In their sermon, BHC leave an impression of unpredictable twists, despite the aforementioned care for keeping things compact. It’s a great starting point that will grab the attention of the wider masses as well as delicate music gourmets who look for a little something more in a band’s vocabulary.
With the new album “Pot do sonca”, BHC keep evolving tirelessly and growing as artists. Their music is an excellent mix of sharp-edged rocking funk grooving on one side and receptive melodic sweetness underpinned by hungry rhythms on the other. It feels free and breathes with full lungs through layered sonic collages. “Pot do sonca” thus cements the band’s status as a quality act on the Slovenian music scene, one that, by all healthy logic, should find its place in the mainstream of Slovenian rock (and pop) music. Let’s hope the right Slovenian record labels, with their polished philosophy of “independence”, discover these modest yet musically razor-sharp, self-made Lower Carniolan guys and introduce them to a wider audience. In 2011 the quality of their music shone with a brightness that can no longer be ignored. Keep it up!
Lineup
Jernej Darovec – vocals
Borut Perše – guitar, backing vocals
Uroš Turk – bass guitar, backing vocals
Jaka Darovec – drums, percussion, organ, string arrangements, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Miha Arnuš – backing vocals, keyboards
Aleksander Raztresen – backing vocals
Production
Jaka Darovec and Miha Arnuš
Tracklist
1. Jezdeci
2. Hruška
3. Acqua Gassata
4. Na liniji
5. Na koncu svoje poti
6. Debela lunica
7. Majhne luknje
8. Mi vsi
9. Nosečismo
10. Prvi
11. Pot do sonca
12. Postajava podobna si
13. Ponavadi
