Label: Zavod Orbita
Release date: 05.10.2018
Production: Smet
Album length: 46.15
Genre: Country / Blues
Smet is an interesting musical hybrid! Special and downright unique. Independent and homegrown. In its whole essence and expressive charisma. No surprise there, since behind it stand the excellent, many-layered guitarist Tilen Stepišnik and the no less outstanding harmonica player Miha Erič. Tilen’s name is on a heap of albums by plenty of Slovenian artists, and Miha Erič is of course one of those four “raging stallions” who make up the musical body of Prismojeni profesorji bluesa. Tilen and Miha are good buddies, partners in crime, comrades. They run into each other at jams a lot, and they found their home base in Ljubljana’s Prulček. That’s just one of many highly fitting spots like it, especially the “little cafés,” where “live acoustic unplugged” sounds with just the right dose of musicality and improv wizardry make a great atmospheric backdrop while you tilt your (nth) mug of beer.
Given the untamed fire of Miha Erič, the kind we’re used to getting in his endless improv-solo outbursts inside the fortress of Prismojeni profesorji bluesa, “Dolga pota” is an album that does the opposite: it puts the musician’s sense of musicality first, and keeps the compositional integrity of every track intact. The opener Time To Leave already surprises in this regard, since it could easily be used as a soundtrack in some film. In terms of expression, the two musicians swing across the album from country to blues, and it certainly doesn’t hide its “southern rock” melodic flavor. Even Ry Cooder would prick up his ears if he went looking for that kind of inspiration (the closer, backed by banjo, Zahod).
In Red Hot Cowboy Stepišnik finally cranks up the reverb, and his acoustic (up to this point more or less “shy”) gets punchier, and Erič finally “goes wild” too, the way we know him from his story with Prismojeni profesorji bluesa. Yet the track keeps its head and tail. The duo doesn’t slip into the sweet temptation of jam-session sprawl here either. No fragmentation, then. A bit more bluesy charm sneaks into this track, and it swells considerably in the next one, Blues In May. In the intro it feels mystical, gently inviting and yearning. As the track unfolds, the harmonica brings more blues into it.
It’s also interesting that Erič’s harmonica carries the main “burden” of all the melodies on the album. It colors Stepišnik’s chordal accompaniment, stands in for what the vocals would bring to the songs, and of course adds subtle soloistic wizardry too, which, as said, never pulls the focus away from the compositions. In the playful Ognjišče the two musicians create an especially intense duet interplay between their two instruments.
The playful side of the album grows once a load of crunchy decibels “crashes” into Veselo sedlo. Stepišnik has finally “found” the power outlet here. Through the new country-folk merrymaking, the two instruments complement, link up with and “upgrade” each other in a duet that’s wonderfully harmonious. Sangria is that “treacherous brew,” sweet as juice, and by the time the effect of the alcoholic derivatives finally “catches” you, it’s usually too late. The swaying title track is like that too, with Miha on lap steel guitar coaxing even a touch of surf flavor out of the melodies, while the song once again sounds southern enough that it could just as well have been called Tequilla. The track Padec would make an ideal film soundtrack, something E. Morricone himself could have written for one of his spaghetti westerns.
It’s a document full of genuinely expressive cheerfulness, big studio pleasures and giddy fun. A great expressive outlet for Miha Erič, who reveals another side of himself here, painting himself in a completely different, more personal light. Stepišnik we already know better in this regard. But Tilen is extremely “adaptable” when it comes to freeing up the space that, as said, Miha on harmonica mostly takes up this time in carrying the melody. We know Stepišnik can be a real wizard on acoustic folk guitar (the duo Aritmija), but this time he builds the material for the musical accompaniment with incredible calm and a special finesse, and with extra embellishments, totally unpretentious (not instantly noticeable to the ear, completely unobtrusive), he colors the compositions, gives them movement and strengthens them artistically. The record has a theatrical nature and a goofiness, but at the same time a very concise structure, with no shortage of moments of melancholy and longing. It delivers exceptional listenability and accessibility. With that, it easily speaks to absolutely everyone among us. That’s why it’s a “folk” document for the people, which was surely one of the two musicians’ goals as well. Let’s hope they hold on to this creative moment and this remarkable chemistry between them, and carry it over into the next one.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
Tracklist:
1. Time To Leave
2. Dolga pota
3. Red Hot Cowboy
4. Blues In May
5. Ognjišče
6. Večni trenutek
7. Iz celice
8. Veselo sedlo
9. Sangria
10. Padec
11. Zahod
Lineup;
Miha Erič – harmonica, lap steel
Tilen Stepišnik – guitar, banjo
