Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Serpentine, Le
Label: Self-released
Release: 2015
Duration: 43:16
Rating: 3.5/5
Kranj natives Le Serpentine are a relatively young band, formed in 2013. Their debut studio album »Ujemi val«, which came out this May, shows us a seriously ambitious young group with real creative drive, a pile of ideas that Le Serpentine know how to pour effectively into their own musical statement.
The debut, twelve originals deep, introduces a band devoted to alternative rock with a distinctly musical touch and a female voice at the center of the action. It’s an album of compactly built songs with polished verses and choruses and tidy production, one that’s resourceful both when the band charges boldly into massive, avalanche-like walls of sound (smeared guitar phrases) and when it favors acoustic, organic-sounding solutions. In the latter you can also hear the active rhythm section at work, especially the effective use of space with vivid bass lines that season the sonic picture with a nice dose of »groove«. The songs often play on an acoustic-distorted »duality«. That means building the atmosphere through a mostly semi-acoustic or acoustic verse up to a chorus that’s often backed by a wall of sound made of boldly thrusting (distorted) guitar phrases (Summer Rain).
Le Serpentine may not be uncovering any musical revolution, and with a solid debut they mostly deliver a cautious first step in their career, but they bring a nice, welcome bit of variety to the Slovenian rock scene with their arrival. They forge a predictable format of »harmless« alternative rock tunes, yet what rules over it all is a polished sense for arrangements and the convincing chemistry that the camaraderie of this quartet builds through its playing and interpretation.
With its polished musical form and a just-right tingling kick, »Ujemi val« carries more than one single candidate for heavy rotation on the radio. In healthy musical circumstances, »Ujemi val« could be a lovely shake-up for the Slovenian mid-wave music pulse, which on our soil sadly doesn’t yet have a defined character of its own. Maybe one day radio editors will »catch the right wave« that the potential of this young and promising Kranj band brings.
Lineup
Tjaša Teropšič – vocals
Žiga Jokić – guitar, backing vocals
Grga Jokić – bass guitar
Anže Kern – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Leon Slabe – trumpet on track no. 8
Production
Staš Hrenič
Tracklist
1. Adijo
2. Konkreten
3. Izklop
4. Summer Rain
5. Tekačica
6. Kam grejo?
7. Pero
8. Le spim
9. Bolero
10. Blue Moon
11. Ujemi val
12. Fen
