Label: Dallas Records
Release year: 2013
Production: Darko Varga
Album length: 50.35 min
Genre: Hard Rock / Blues
Šinobusi – the name comes from the diesel passenger railcar (no separate locomotive) that used to be built back in Yugoslav times at the Goša factory in Serbia, and which you can now spot in Slovenia only in Metlika, when it rolls in from Croatian Karlovac – are an old-school rock band from Novi Sad. Just before the end of last year, around Christmas to be exact, Šinobusi released their fourth studio album, “Nebo od skaja” (in translation, “Sky Made of Skai”). If we dig into the title a bit more, Serbs write and read the English word for sky, “sky”, as “skaj” (the “Vuk Karadžić” way), so there’s also an alternative reading of the album’s name, which I’ll leave you to explore yourselves. It has a rather psychedelic ring to it, much like the album itself, track by track.
The band is by no means a newcomer to the scene. They’ve been going for thirteen years and have over 300 gigs behind them, which is an enviable feat for a band that’s been thrown into a situation where it constantly has to find new survival strategies on the scene. These are seasoned old cats who gradually, and quite naturally, grew from a modest acoustic trio devoted to playing blues standards into a top-notch blues rock quintet with exceptional songwriting power.
The album “Nebo od skaja” carries fourteen original songs. It’s the band’s first album without a single cover, and in character it looks in a darker direction than its predecessors. Šinobusi weave plenty of musical elements into their retro sound. Blues remains the starting point, but what’s interesting is that the band’s evolution has meant the blues characteristics blend ever more splendidly with other genre spheres, so the blues format itself can be masterfully veiled within the compositions and only comes through in the listening in the “background”. Nebo od skaja confirms the band’s remarkable maturing as creative arrangers, and once again proves what strong lyricists the guys in the band are, since their poetry, combined with the format of clearly defined arrangements and a subtle play of metaphors, reaches an exceptional depth of meaning. One of the most strikingly true lyrics, wrapped in the character of a wisely chosen poetic metaphor, is carried on the album by the song Ćorav sokak.
On “Nebo od skaja” everything sits right where it should. The retro sound is once again masterfully dressed up with a superb production that has kept all the dynamics of living, organic sonic warmth, and I’d dare say the band recorded the album in the studio as if playing a live show, judging by the atmospheric hunger it reaches, built on honesty as the guarantee of a genuine outpouring of emotion and passion. The layered sound picture is so sincere that it’s quite possible the album was even recorded using analog gear. The Šinobusi style simply demands that approach. If you want to achieve the authenticity and that unforgettable charm of the rock culture pioneers at the turn of the sixties into the seventies, you record everything in one take and, ideally, on analog. And for something like that you need a lot of guts.
Milan Korać’s vocals are the first element of Šinobusi’s music that touches the listener deeply. His voice has tonal qualities that can lend the songs a touch of psychedelia, which was the musical trend at the end of the sixties, when bands like The Moody Blues and Procol Harum emerged. The melodic richness of “Nebo od skaja” makes such good use of the blues foundations it’s built on that comparisons to the sound and style of old-school hard rock bands like Uriah Heep come easily, particularly thanks to the chunky curtains of Hammond organ in the background (the opener Vazduh, then Skačem visoko), as well as to Wishbone Ash, thanks to Milan Korać’s “velvety”, caressing voice, which, especially with generous acoustic backing, at times draws on the vocal shades of Martin Turner (the songs Kuća ljubavi, Ponekad). There are moments where the riff gets sharper than in the opening Vazduh, or Ko zna, and the band further stirs up the album’s content with two polished instrumentals, Noonism and the closing Odlazak. These last two simply confirm an exceptional “jam session” reach and top-notch tightness through the effective chemistry between the band members. A hint of surf rock sneaks into the song Potera. Then we run into tracks that, in some other time 40 years ago, would have been guaranteed airplay on radio stations, like Naš dan, with its perfectly arranged added female vocal harmonies that color the space between the verses of the lead male voice. In any case, thanks to the lyrics and also to occasional solutions in the search for leading melodic forms, Šinobusi’s chemistry can be compared to the retro sound of seventies Yu rock bands such as the good old Korni Grupa, YU Grupa, Atomsko sklonište and/or Smak. The recreation of this retro nostalgic vibe is deepened by a strong organic mix of acoustic arrangements with which Šinobusi thicken their sound. And that’s not all. They also fill out the lead motifs with harmonica.
“Nebo od skaja” is an album of 14 clearly defined tracks from head to toe. Šinobusi cultivate a special musical nature of a singular adventure, gazing deep into retro nostalgia, while reaching an exceptional songwriting maturity and, most importantly of all, a uniquely home-grown expression of their own musical craft. If you’re into the progressive rock that flourished across the former shared republic in the seventies, or the pioneering British hard rock outfits like Wishbone Ash, Uriah Heep and Procol Harum, then what the album “Nebo od skaja” delivers won’t just thrill you. In a single word, it’ll simply enchant you. The album is an inch-perfect recreation of the authentic pulse of the exploratory pioneering of the seventies rock vibe, which in Šinobusi’s hands manifests in a completely original way. A gorgeous album lost in time and space, proving that Šinobusi have come close to the very zenith of their songwriting, so if they manage to hold on to this creative charge, we can rightfully expect plenty more magnificent original works from them in the future.
The Slovenian answer to them these days could be found in the band El Kachon. Both bands are firmly rooted in the elemental heritage of blues music, yet each has pushed off into its own expressive musical branch, so this remarkably compatible pairing could well carve out a joint tour of the Balkans.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 10 / 10
Track list:
1. Vazduh
2. Kuća ljubavi
3. Bio sam tu
4. Naš dan
5. Skačem visoko
6. Greed
7. Iz drugog ugla
8. Potera
9. Ćorav sokak
10. Noonism
11. Ko zna
12. Ponekad
13. Lion’s Garden
14. Odlazak
Lineup:
Milan Korać – vocals, guitar
Nenad Patković – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Stefan Stefanović – harmonica
Predrag Dmitrović – bass guitar
Đorđe Bubnjević – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Jelena Bračika – backing vocals on track no. 4
Maja Matić – backing vocals on tracks no. 4 and 11
Dragana Keller – backing vocals on tracks no. 4 and 6
