Artist: Zbogom, Ajda
Label: Self-released
Release: 2010
Length: 43:01
Rating: 3.5/5
Who are Zbogom, Ajda? Why are they probably the only pure-blooded post-rock band in Slovenia, yet somehow refuse to take on, to embrace, that status, the status of a Slovenian band? You won’t be able to read a single word about the band on Slovenian sites. Simply because nothing has been written about them. And there’s a reason for that, too. The band members don’t want it. Promotion also happened only on foreign forums, especially through 4chan’s music den /mu/, where Zbogom, Ajda extensively pasted the link to the free download of their debut Status.
Status came out in 2010, but only a few Slovenes ever got to it (probably just /mu/tants, i.e. visitors of the aforementioned 4chan den). On first listen the album really does strongly recall the very synonym for post-rock – Godspeed You! Black Emperor. In fact the whole thing reminds you of that band too much, maybe even more than a musician with enough self-respect should allow. First there’s the atmosphere, then the repetitive guitar lines, then a quasi-oppressive spoken-word bit (which simply sounds too much like Godspeed’s »The Dead Flag Blues«, only without the »quasi« prefix) that in this light comes off as a bit inauthentic and naive, and by feel almost completely defies the melancholic music that follows; the speech and the music are at a crossroads rather than on the same path. And in the end it dawns on you that »Zbogom« is basically a translation of »Godspeed« (thank god there’s no biker gang named Ajda on Slovenian soil). It’s all well and good – having role models, looking up to them – but the fact is you have to be careful with this stuff.
Okay, maybe it sounds like Zbogom, Ajda are a cheap Godspeed knockoff. That’s not (entirely) true. The band definitely holds on to a good chunk of its own identity. The whole album is much more ambient, even much more minimalist than Godspeed’s work. Guitars are almost exclusively up front, there are no drums, every now and then you hear a piano and spoken word, sometimes clean, sometimes run through a pile of effects. On the sixth track on the album, called »Mesečina«, there’s even singing, both male and female. That’s definitely a welcome addition, but sadly the vocals are… off. Bad. Tuneless. The female vocal still holds a higher level and still blends with the music, while the male vocal sadly doesn’t have enough of, well, a voice to step up with confidence in such a prominent role. That’s even more noticeable where the vocals overlap – there the male voice sticks out the way it really shouldn’t. On top of that, the Littoral accent is very dominant, which in itself may not be a bad thing. Zbogom, Ajda are in a way trying to be a kind of folk band. With the spoken word of an older lady and a girl they create a sort of myth on our soil, since it’s mostly the older lady telling fantastical stories and surreal experiences that the band’s music is then supposed to build on – in that sense it works as a kind of backdrop, or part of the story. So the record could be called a concept album, as it sticks throughout to certain guidelines that form its red thread, and this is where the band perhaps loses its direct link with, say, Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
Still, it’s also impossible to deny that the instrumentals are exceptionally nicely crafted and, above all, interesting. If only because they step away from the clichéd post-rock quiet-loud-quiet tendency, keeping more or less the same volume while still staying dynamic. And even if some patterns are heavily borrowed from (again) Godspeed, especially in, say, »Sanje«, there are more than enough experimental and totally distinctive parts that can’t disappoint (especially the ones inspired by contemporary classical). Parts that are different. That aren’t the same old post-rock bullshit that gets churned out by the ton these days. The problem is that post-rock has become a genre in which it’s probably easiest to tick some basic boxes. Enough reverb, enough delay, pretty cleans and distortion for the »sudden« loud parts, and boom, you’ve got post-rock. Zbogom, Ajda rise above that typicality and still keep a nice measure of listenability, experimentation and, not least, creativity.
Statika is thus by no means a perfect debut, but practically none are. Statika isn’t even a great debut. It isn’t even a wholly original debut. But it’s certainly the first of its kind on our soil. And a band has to start somewhere, even with too much worship of its idols. Still, the debut already has enough uniqueness, enough of a sound that could become the band’s signature, that Zbogom, Ajda have more than enough foundations for a decisive leap into music that’s entirely their own. So let Statika stay still, and let Zbogom, Ajda keep moving forward.
Line-up
Andi Koglot – guitar, piano, vocals, field recordings, ambient sounds, lyrics
Andraž – guitar
Eva – vocals
Track list
1 Tukaj…
2 Sanje
3 Lahko vidim v neskončnost
4 Na drugi strani ceste
5 Samo ptice letijo v prvem razredu
6 Mesečina
7 Statična paranoja
8 Vozi, išči, izgubi…
