Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: BRO
Label: Celinka
Released: 2013
Runtime: 59:08
Rating: 4.5/5
Mate Brodar »Bro« needs no long introduction. Half of the duo Da Phenomena, former right-hand man to Magnifico and to plenty of Slovenian »featherweight pop acts« who insist on having the best arrangement-coloring sidemen around, he’s back with his second solo studio album, »Smoods«.
Bro is an outstanding musician. A gifted musician. He’s got a finely tuned ear and a remarkable feel for melody and arrangement, but what really makes him great is that his head is always brimming with usable ideas. The kind of ideas that are ripe for realization. Mate has always had a special devotion to reggae rhythms and melody. And since the soundscape he serves up on this second record loves to echo off every wall, the new album also gets a dub haircut. Throw in the lessons from Magnifico and the studio excursions with Da Phenomena, and the whole story of what »Smoods« is all about lands somewhere in the golden middle.
»Smoods« digs deeper into the ideas laid out on »Serious Reggae Deviations« and, musically, delivers an even more sharply defined, personal statement from Mateja Brodar. The gist of it is a positively glowing musical vibe. A relaxed string of short, light but punchy moves, with playful, carefree cheekiness thrown into the gears of simple rhythmic structures and melodic motifs of pop infectiousness, which still leave tons of room to show off clever little touches that enrich the arrangements and squeeze the most out of each track’s soundscape. The first cornerstone is the superb delivery of a melodic, flexible, dynamic bass line, which breathes contrasting color and charisma into the musical culture of »Smoods« with warmth and softness. Then there’s the »makeup job« on the available space with sampled loops, the aforementioned use of the echo effect (dub), and also a cunning but effective integration of jazz elements (Indica). With all the effects it’s stuffed with (read: »Apple« works wonders), the album feels like it’s got »coffee grinders and prayer wheels« spinning round the clock, and plenty of moments are masterfully seasoned with samples of distorted speech. The note of lucidity is clearly front and center. One of the winning moments on the record in this respect is definitely »Chinese Man«, where the vocal lines are deliberately distorted into a »meow-y« squeal, pushed to the limit of a teasing melodic figure that, in a different musical setting, would put such moves in the same camp as the vocal-and-stage show excesses of »eighties« King Crimson with Belew on vocals.
Bro’s boyish vocals work great within the musical formatting of »Smoods«. They get under your skin fast in the hypermelodic opener »Runaway« (and subsequently in its sibling reprise, the Slovenian-language version of the track called »Brani me«). Bro serves up no fewer than three different versions of his own adaptations of the Siddharta standard Lunanai. He shows off his ingenuity in the way he bends the original »New Light In My Eyes« to the seductive demands of a reggae standard. The »echoey« version, slammed onto a dub groove, is no less fun, and on the third version of »Lunanai« Trkaj jumps in as a special guest. A similar tune to the one Bro used in the Slovenian and English versions of »Runaway« and »Brani me«.
»Bass in the Face« carries a main motif almost in the style of »Steely Dan meets Toto« and serves up a great blend of layered dialogue between jazz, swing, pop and hip-hop, unfolding in the glow of total unpredictability and experimental adventurism, and it’s one of the most interesting moments on the album.
»Smoods« has already had a serious promo push, with three videos for three singles (»Lunanai«, »Brani me«, »Razsta«). This is an album of seriously positive vibes, with an outstanding combination of melodic instinct, a solid yet organically tuned rhythmic backbone, and complex sonic figures that, through experimental provocation, lift the dynamic side of the album’s multilayered expression to a whole new level. There are elements of jazz, funk and swing (the guitar cuts in now and then), all placed in just the right spots with a refined touch, and thanks to that the album stays remarkably accessible to the listener from start to finish. The compact, melodically combustible »Sanis«, »Razsta« and »Brani me« are born for heavy rotation on the radio waves, while the »chill out« vibe of the polished blend of jazz, dub, funk and blues elements shows that Bro approaches his craft as a major perfectionist with wide musical horizons. »Smoods« is a document with which Bro, as a solo artist, effectively cements his own homegrown artistic stance. It sounds even more mature and defined than his already very solid studio debut.
Line-up
Mate Brodar “Bro” – vocals, FX samples, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, vocoder, clavinet
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Davor Klarič – keyboards
Marko Črnčec – piano
Jernej Kržič – bass guitar
Jani Hace – bass guitar
Brina Nataša Zupančič – violin
Matej Horvat “Mato” – drums
Martin Janežič “Buco” – drums, percussion
Metod Banko – vocals
Polona Leben – vocals
Mojca Zalar – vocals
Junior Tshaka – vocals
Jah Mason – vocals
Trkaj – vocals
Buda – vocals
Grega Kozar – saxophone
Tadej Košir – guitar
Production
BRO and Matej Gobec
