Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Radio Mondo
Label: Celinka
Release: 2016
Rating: 3.5/5
Yet another band is arriving on the Slovenian music scene, and to put it bluntly, it wants to get more airplay in Slovenia’s music space. Radio Mondo is a union of well-known and respected Slovenian musicians, namely Blaž Celarec (percussion), Nino de Gleria (double bass, bass guitar), Urban Grabenšek (keyboards, guitar), Jelena Ždrale (violin) and Matej Mijatovič (vocals).
Given the musical backgrounds the lineup comes from, the style is no surprise: a kind of saccharine pop hybrid of cabaret chanson with detours into swing, while the melodies and moods the album captures clearly underline their roots on the sunny side of the Alps. So you’ll find a few traces of folk melody in there too. Roughly and by rule of thumb, the Radio Mondo story is like crossing Nula Kelvina with Čedahuči. Although the opener Vikend ljubimca comes across as teasingly cheeky, even mocking, and instantly brings to mind the musical track record of Nula Kelvina, from there on it gets more and more pop sweetness, mostly thanks to Matej Mijatovič’s vocal interpretation, or rather vocal approach, which is contrastingly spiced up and colored by duets with several guest female vocalists, led by Nana Milčinski. She lent her voice to the first two tracks, Vikend ljubimca and Spet kot prvič.
All in all, the 12 songs are wholeheartedly and perfectionistically packaged into a quality cumulus of crafted arrangements, where every element breathes completely organically, real, down-to-earth, and convincing in the emotions it conveys. The messages in the background are love relationships, one-night stands, and other bittersweet battle-of-the-sexes »wars« (and ceasefires). For the creators of the album, who matured into adult personalities long ago, it’s actually a bit naive, played out, even childish, but still. Each of us has our own »vibe«, or frequency we’re tuned to through everyday life. Despite lyrics that are at times downright saccharine, the note of lucid mockery blended into the cleverly tickling poetry is strong enough to somehow neutralize its childlike character, and the band found a heaping dose of fun in it, unlike the author of this review, so I hope you will too.
The musicianship is excellent. No need to waste words on that. Seasoned, battle-hardened musicians with enormous mileage this time mostly follow the poetic and compositional vision of Matej Mijatovič, who got help with the writing from Nebojša Mijatovič too.
Given the clearly defined musical character of the songs, twelve tracks is a lot, since over its running time the album doesn’t stray far from the staked-out template of the typical cabaret chanson, which the Slovenian scene is already stuffed with in countless variations. Ten songs would have been plenty for a studio debut. We’ll see where the crew soars from here. They knock on the heartstrings and try to break into the middle-of-the-road popularity of Slovenian radio airwaves. Fun, convincing, but in terms of expression absolutely nothing special and, for the most part, already tried and tested.
Lineup
Matej Mijatovič – vocals
Nino de Gleria – double bass, bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitar, ukulele, banjo, synth bass
Jelena Ždrale – violin, viola, maracas, vocals
Blaž Celarec – percussion, drums, vocals
Urban Grabenšek- piano, electric piano, acoustic guitar, banjo, vocals
FEATURED MUSICIANS:
Nebojša Mijatović – music (8,12), lyrics (3,8,10,12)
Andraž Kržič – piano (3,8.11), backing vocals (11,12)
Krešimir Jadronja – cajon (3,11), Tuareg drum (8), backing vocals (11)
Rok Erjavec – electric guitar (11), backing vocals (11)
Nanča Muck – vocals (11)
Luka Ropret – classical guitar (10)
Jernej Kržič – bass guitar (11)
GUEST VOCALISTS:
Nana Milčinski – vocals (1,2)
Neža Trobec – vocals (3)
Production
Nino de Gleria
Tracklist
1. Vikend ljubimca
2. Spet kot prvič
3. Halo, mon cheri
4. Obriši solze
5. Mica se krega
6. Pijano te pogledam
7. Ne moje ne tvoje…
8. Anita in Čarli
9. Kadar te ni
10. Spomini
11. Tako dišiš
12. Zaspana nedelja
