Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Zaklonišče prepeva
Label: Lip Art Events
Release: 2014
Length: 47:27
Rating: 4/5
Zaklonišče prepeva are back with a new album, their first in five years. The Nova Gorica rockers, who are relentlessly closing in on two full decades of activity, took a good chunk of time to patch together a new studio record. And it’s their seventh! The upside of a longer stretch of time behind an album is well known: as a rule, the content tends to be more artistically defined than usual. Of course that’s not an absolute rule, but it often holds true.
Off the bat, »Samo da prođe demokratija« is the most mature album of the band’s career. Their philosophy stays basically unchanged. With the new record, too, Zakonišče prepeva remain firmly anchored in the eighties. Simply composed and arranged little songs, with the default front-and-center bite of rock-driven guitars. Vanja Alič’s macho vocals are still devoted to verses in Serbo-Croatian. It simply suits them. In the world of their arrangements the language has always been the best fit, since it doesn’t just hold on to the melodicity, it actually builds it up in the songs. That’s surely tied to Alič’s musical loyalty to the life and work of certain rock bands from the former shared country, led by Riblja Čorba, of course.
We can say that this time around Zaklonišče prepeva put far more attention into arranging the songs than on past records. The years go by, and in their new creations the musicians confirm their gradual artistic maturing. Despite the recognizable elements that make up their musical dossier, on »Samo da prođe demokratija« the band has artistically struck a splendid balance of maturity between rock hooliganism, which it has refined with a delicately sensitive loosening of the arrangements (touches of keyboards and woodwinds shaping the character of the soundscape). That way the band keeps its well-known knack for getting spins on the radio. But you can feel it when you put the new songs next to the older ones. How much richer in substance they are! With »Samo da prođe demokracija« the band has made a noticeable leap in maturity and artistry, and that occasional naive triviality of predictable, nursery-rhyme melodic solutions in the little songs, which Zaklonišče prepeva have otherwise always successfully masked with witty yet substantial messages in the verses, stays corked up (Haile Selassje).
The maturity upgrade, we might even call it an artistic »sobering up« of a band that has, over the years, venerably caught up with the Nova Gorica rock ‘n’ roll veterans, is flagged right away by the opener Volim te. This time Zaklonišče prepeva work like a mini orchestra. They spread the building blocks of their sound evenly. Even though the backdrop (the instrumental accompaniment) is typically seasoned with rock, it’s constantly fertilized by the tasteful warmth of keyboards, even a Hammond organ and electric piano. The tunes are strongly backed by multi-part harmonies, which the band places tastefully at precisely measured spots in the songs. It does this sensitively and with filigree-fine thought, knowing full well that this way a given song will get an ever-graduated build in atmosphere, with a mood crescendo in the chorus. The band puts more attention into the fine mechanics of defining the arrangements, which shows especially in the »mid-eight« passages, where it effectively thickens the available arrangement space, including with touches of woodwinds. The sound is dynamic, warm, extremely organic. The contrasts between the building blocks of the sound are colored optimally. In this natural sonic tone, or organic soundscape, Vanja Alič’s unforced vocal works perfectly. Precisely because of the closer attention to the little details in enriching the arrangements, Alič’s vocals deliver an all the more convincing plasma of passion and emotion. The lyrics are once again cleverly put together and wittily set. The spark of imagination is still there, in fact it’s even more intense.
Zaklonišče prepeva are a people’s band. What they try and what they feel, they say. No detours, no pretending. If reality hurts, they’ll salt it with a sparkling, rich arsenal of Serbo-Croatian, which glitters especially in the ingeniously constructed rhymes through which Alič keeps the red thread of the messages running throughout. The title track, along with the opener Volim te, is one of the album’s strongest points arrangement-wise. I dare say it’s the strongest song on the album, which is perhaps exactly why the band picked it as the album’s title track. In it Zaklonišče prepeva lay bare all of our reality in an instant. We’ve all actually figured out that democracy harms the majority, while a handful of gerontocratic quasi-moralists prosper from it, with democracy constantly on their lips so they can plunder planet Earth. For those few decades of their little lives they destroy everything that’s sacred. They’ll die anyway. One way or another. Fast. An old story, then. An absurd story. On the other hand, Zaklonišče prepeva have always been known as eternal dandy rock ‘n’ roll rascals with the ladies. The »artful windbags« once again paint vivid pictures of some sweet memories of recent night-time encounters between men and women (especially fun are Široka Milena, Niki je opet tu, Ljubav na poslednji pogled, Rudy Boy).
That’s it. A compact, production-dense, organic and warm-sounding album that is also, arrangement-wise, the best-defined record of the band’s career. At the same time it’s a sign of the band’s healthy evolution. For the ear it’s a predictably invasive product that keeps a clear melodic dominant, while you can feel the band’s artistic maturity all over it. Going forward, expect a deepening of the art element of sensitivity in arranging the songs. Considering that Zaklonišče prepeva aren’t a band that has strived over the years for a stylistic transition of its musical ID card, since it rarely uses “that extra sixth chord” when composing a given song, this is a welcome direction for the future. Toward sophistication and sonically layered arranging, which »Samo da prođe demokratija« more than convincingly announces.
Lineup
Vanja Alič – vocals
Miha Jerovec – guitar, backing vocals
Peter Baroš “Irie” – keyboards, saxophone, backing vocals
Mitja Marussig – bass guitar, backing vocals
Uroš Buh – drums, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Davor Skočič “Mafia” – drums on tracks 4, 11 and 12
Tomaž Rožanec – accordion on track 3
Andreja Čamernik – backing vocals on tracks 1, 6 and 10
Borja Bolčina – guitar on track 3
Damjan Mašera – trumpet on tracks 5, 11 and 4
Vid Žgajner – trombone on tracks 5 and 11
Paul Kempf “DJ Pavo” – Hammond organ on track 11
Production
Rok Podbevšek & Vanja Alič
Track list
1. Volim te
2. Niki je opet tu
3. Samo da prođe demokratija (i da opet zaživimo kao ljudi)
4. Još uvek pomislim na tebe
5. Široka Milena
6. Ostani tu, pored mene
7. Ljubav na poslednji pogled
8. Hoču da živim
9. Rudy Boy
10. Hajde, budi se
11. Haile Selassje
12. Kapital-anal d.o.o. (ne grem več na volitve)*
*…bonus track on the record
