Label: Akord Records
Release date: April 10, 2019
Production: Robert Likar
Genre: Hard Rock
Up N’ Downs (U.N.D.) are Slovenian rockers from Mozirje who already kicked up a whole lot of dust back in 2016 with their debut “Vse kar sem pozabil”. Simply because, cover art aside (it’s an unappealing one, though that’s beside the point), the band instantly made it clear that this is one of the most promising new Slovenian rock outfits, one that credibly draws from the rich legacy of 1970s rock pioneering, plainly put rock’n’roll and hard rock, and translates it very skillfully into modern production and arrangement instincts. Up N’ Downs immodestly declare that they’re a sextet of exceptionally well-honed musicians who have all the essential ingredients of the songwriting craft figured out, which gives the band a high musical yield and constant radio appeal. So this is a “tough” review to write, because “Vse, kar sem pozabil II” is an album packed with a damn lot of information, brimming with exuberant, stately variety of expression, and a polished piece of work born of huge diligence and a hunger for perfection.
After a solid four years, the second studio album has finally rolled into the world, meaningfully titled “Vse, kar sem pozabil II.” A sequel to the debut, then, in every sense. The new album confirms that the excellent debut was no fluke, that Up N’ Downs are no one-day wonder, and then some. “Vse, kar sem pozabil II” is its artistic, maturity-driven upgrade, which is the only right way to go, since it also reflects the band’s evolution along a healthy, natural path. On the new album the band keeps strengthening, developing and nurturing its recognizable musical profile, its character, with incredible success and credibility.
The partnership of the Zavolovšek brothers is a downright dreamy combination, followed by the rest of the band’s crew of building blocks, and the chemistry in the sextet works at a top-tier level. “Vse, kar sem pozabil” in its “second part” is a definitive upgrade on its predecessor, which, as said, delivered exceptional quality, and this year it delivers what is surely one of the rock highlights among album releases by Slovenian artists. Already the opener, the extremely cheeky and wound-up, roguish Pozdrav iz Mozirja, signals that Up N’ Downs are a band that fits under the free sun of the rock map, as far as the Slovenian geographic region goes, somewhere “east” of Šank Rock, Mary Rose and San Di Ego and “west” of Stray Train. But more than that. Unlike the bands just listed, Up N’ Downs very boldly bridge the basic hard rock premise with tantalizingly reconciliatory cross-genre excursions into the fields of punk, funk, blues, reggae, ska and even folk springboards. That’s also why they’re so much more interesting and tantalizing to listen to. This very quality of occasional witty escapism into the fields of other genre spheres is what sets them apart all the more decisively and puts them in a confident place of their own on the Slovenian musical map. The quality described is also proof that the band is extremely flexible, unburdened and even free-spirited in its musical vision, while at the same time it highlights the group’s incredible, deeply internalized, sensual skill for arranging, every time Up N’ Downs occasionally buddy up stylistically with other musical spheres.
For the new era and the new album, the band has brought into its ranks the legendary guitarist Robert Likar (The Drinkers, Niet). “Lit’r” is an old-school guy of straight-up chopped yet generously dosed Gibson LP twanging, and you can feel it at certain points, like the track Sij, or in moments where Up N’ Downs can turn mocking and cheeky, like Do konca in še dlje, and such too is the mildly “Niet-style” verse in the short but “sweet” Sem, kdor sem, which the band then underlays the second time round with reggae&SKA rhythms, and with that “slipped-in” transformation, a stylistic modulation, brings out a whole new artistic quality in the song and flips the mood. The band understands very well and knows how to handle the build-up of moods in its songs, which hit a crescendo in memorable, often bombastically sharpened chorus melodies.
Among the songs, first and foremost the album’s title track deserves a shout-out! It counts as one of its compositional, and also poetically expressive, highlights. It carries exceptional hints of dabbling in old-school progressive rock and so, to a certain extent, already presents elements of a mini epic suite, where melancholy, or rather yearning drama theater, is the album’s peak, because right here Up N’ Downs manage to awaken elements of mysticism, which is otherwise a great rarity in Slovenian hard rock. The song works as a kind of epitaph that, in the yield of its musical development, graduated pomp and boldly stressed emotions, easily touches even the most hidden corners of any listener’s soul. Right alongside this peak we can easily place the song Letni časi, which unfolds in its intro and transitions in a bluesy, seductive melancholy of gorgeous guitar turns, and where a crafted falsetto vocal takes all the attention in the verse, along with its absolute contrasting vocal leap into a solemnly seductive chorus melody which, despite a completely different structure and production approach, stirs up some of Siddharta’s charm, even though, as said, Up N’ Downs work as an entity with its own crafted originality, and this association is more the product of a general philosophy of perceiving the musicality of Slovenian geographic origin than of anything else. Up N’ Downs, just like Siddharta in a completely different musical story, can hardly sound more Slovenian. That’s an element that embodies us historically, an energy we radiate generationally through the centuries and identify with. If a band translates this moment and breathes it in character into its album, it can be a beautiful lever for emphasizing character-driven originality. This association comes up again later on the album with the song Nostalgija, which is backed by acoustic arrangements and folk ornaments and likewise develops in the glow of pomp and solemnity in the chorus melody. A catchily captivating chorus. No two ways about it. But of all the internalized Slovenian musicality on the album “Vse, kar sem pozabil II,” the one that sounds most “Slovenian” in its musical yield is the ballad Gorska reka, which the band has inoculated with a distinct bluesy character.
The album could actually have ended with Nostalgija. But the band put two more compositions at the tail end. The first is sung in Serbo-Croatian (Pored mene, translated: “Next to me”), and the second and last track, Remember, as its title dictates, is of course in English. They work as bonus tracks, so their place at the tail of the album is fitting. Up N’Downs do cope better with Serbo-Croatian, though, and it’s quite interesting how quickly such a composition picks up some distant Yu-Rock sentiment (this track also carries a new excellent and distinctive chorus, so it’s worth playing at gigs).
Hammond, those chunky Hammond lines that support the guitar phrasing. Ever present and an all-too-important building block of the whole melos of the band’s musical signature! There’s no way to miss them. Often they slot in as equals into the phrasing, and in the middle-eight passages they can also be active in solo ornaments. Minor-key song structures carry the sensuality, the passion and the very aesthetics of drama theater. This is shown very vividly in Pobeljeni grobovi too, where the structures in the verse pick up some funk springboards, but the chorus develops into a complete artistic about-face and, in the same breath, real rock bombast. An excellent contrast and shift of atmosphere, and there are quite a few of these in such a compositional sense on the album, which keeps it constantly appealing to listen to.
Bottom line. An excellent album in every respect. A mature rock album polished in every detail, and given the historical reach and character of Slovenian rock expression, we can say, immodestly put, that Up N’ Downs are the Slovenian hard rock band of the new millennium. In that sense a true blazing comet and a star that has lit up and that we can no longer overlook. An album built on the gains of worldwide rock pioneering, yet at the same time subtly eyeing the clever solutions of modern production and sonic aesthetics, as well as arranging levers. A band that, regardless of the demonstrated zenith of its songwriting, is nowhere near saying its last word, and a band that, with its musical vision, will more than obviously keep sweetly surprising us for a long time to come.
One last philosophical thought for the future. This is a generational album. The guys and the girl in the band certainly don’t perceive it that way, but it’s a thought worth taking all the way on this occasion. Up N’ Downs, as heralds of a new generation, use this album to build a bridge between old and new and hold up a mirror to their generational peers, showing where Slovenian hard rock is headed, so we don’t have to worry about the genre turning archaic (museum-piece material) in Slovenia. The debut album and now, even more decisively, its successor are very likely the foundational works that define the track of Slovenian rock, or more precisely hard rock, for the times ahead. That’s why we’re talking about a Slovenian hard rock vision of a new generation for the new millennium, where there’s no directly noticeable “copying” and no burden of the worldwide hard rock tradition, which is essential! This is a generational milestone of hard rock revivalism in Slovenia, which suggests that its development hasn’t stopped, and also hints at where Slovenian hard rock will go in the future on the wings of a new generation of Slovenian rock musicians. It definitely must not stay one-note in genre, but should always tickle and tease at least a little with flirtations toward other genre spheres of music. Up N’ Downs have all of that, and that’s their winning poker hand of aces that they can proudly pull out of their sleeve at any time. The band of course isn’t even aware of this, but let’s hope that this so-called hypothetical musing of the writer of these humble lines will one day be confirmed by the bright future of Slovenian rock’n’roll.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 10 / 10
Tracklist:
1. Pozdrav iz Mozirja
2. Božji ateist
3. Drugi jaz
4. Vse, kar sem pozabil II
5. Sij
6. Sem, kdor sem
7. Letni časi
8. Pobeljeni grobovi
9. Gorska reka
10. Do konca in še dlje
11. Nostalgija
12. Pored mene
13. Remember
Lineup:
Erik Zavolovšek – vocals
David Zavolovšek – guitar, backing vocals
Robert Likar – guitar
Lucija Hrastnik – keyboards, backing vocals
Andraž Stropnik – bass
Martin Oblak – drums
