Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Vasko Atanasovski Trio
Label: Celinka
Release: 2016
Length: 41:37
Rating: 3/5
After three years, Vasko Atanasovski Trio are back on our musical turf with their third record! A punchy, free-wheeling folk-rock combo spiced up with elements of jazz, plus a bit of blues and alternative rock.
The three building blocks, namely »the lord of the whirling winds« Vasko Atanasovski, guitarist Dejan Lapanja and drummer Marjan Stanič, are constantly caught up in all kinds of musical projects and challenges. No sleep. Just full throttle. The third album, titled »The Scissors«, so (as expected) keeps the musical vision of both its studio predecessors. We can safely say that, in terms of expression, the trio isn’t going anywhere new on this record. The trio’s driving engine is of course still Vasko Atanasovski, who, on this new release too, is totally all-in, showing off through solo flourishes, subtly adaptable within the variable format of nine new compositions, his unbridled, mischievous streak of musical expression, that is, wind-instrument comedy.
So here’s yet another trio album, mostly steeped in the influences of Balkan folk melos, backed up by suitably rhythmic textures. Dejan Lapanja’s guitar, which sounds authentically live and rings with a warm jangle, mostly just builds the backdrop of the accompaniment and adds expressiveness to the release, more than an eternal rock element, and the trio doesn’t turn its back on flirting with blues or just »easygoing rock’n’roll« in places this time either.
Given that the booklet’s liner notes call all three musicians practically »musical Hercules«, on the album Marjan and Dejan take on the roles of extras and stay in the background all the way through, in an inferior position. Well, The Rolling Stones have Darryl Jones in the lineup on bass too, even though the bass lines there could be played by a nine-year-old music school kid, if not a seven-year-old self-taught one. So the only element on the album that’s truly »stretchy« and full-on throughout is Vasko, who, besides blowing, also uses his vocals on the new record. In its very color and delivery, that voice has a character tailor-made for dealing with the realms of alternative rock. Since Vasko mostly uses Serbo-Croatian for this, the album carries the retro-sounding character of new wave and punk rock gains inherited from the days of our former, wider common homeland, that is, the extinct »Yu-rock«.
Cheeky, lucid, unburdened and played on the first take. First attempt, with full-blooded enjoyment. The solos are tailored to the rawness of an intuitive feel. The band didn’t invest much time in polishing the arrangements of the album’s tracks. They went into the studio once they’d set up the rough framework of the songs and played them very freely, unburdened and fast, if not right away. What’s more, the trio set itself no developmental challenge on the new album, and so it expressively treads water on the tried-and-tested formula. In artistic terms, it’s stuck in the same spot. That’s why the new album comes across, in this respect, as dry, stiff, familiar and well-worn. Despite its teasingly naughty character, its full-blooded dose of optimism, and the sheer sonic liveliness and authenticity of the performance. Above all, the most impressive moments are the ones where the band goes purely instrumental, since Vasko’s mostly nasal, annoying vocal is a completely dispensable addition that robs the compositions of the momentum for possible instrumental development toward more interesting forms. The vocal is minimized to almost monosyllabic repetition of fairly predictable verse vocabulary and comes across as childish too.
On the next album, the trio has to set itself the challenge of widening its artistic reach, of reaching for impulses that refine and upgrade both sound and style. With the integration of new instruments and moves that also bring in sonic manipulation. Those are very much welcome ingredients . Dropping the vocals entirely would be welcome too, which would open up extra expressive space for instrumental playing, loosening up and energizing the arrangements, which is the first and leading guarantee of this trio’s appeal. In general, if Dejan and Marjan stepped out of their shadowy roles as extras. If the band doesn’t lay the groundwork for a proper creative, artistic turn in the future, it’ll stay truly interesting only at its live shows, while the expressive character of its future original work will keep mercilessly gnawing at the tooth of dryness and predictability.
Vasko Atanasovski Trio – Good Time:
Line-up
Vasko Atanasovski – saxophones, flute, vocals
Dejan Lapanja – guitar, backing vocals
Marjan Stanič – drums, percussion
Production
Vasko Atanasovski
Track list
1. Kokoko
2. Devojka
3. Sufi
4. Propast
5. Kozle
6. Bela noč
7. Balet
8. Nožici
9. Good Time
