Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Orkestrada
Label: Celinka
Released: 2018
Length: 50:04
Rating: 4.5/5
Orkestrada have been at it since 2010. In 2011 they put out their debut album »Spusti« , which came out on ZARŠ, and after seven years that flew by in a blink, the debut has now gotten a younger brother and studio successor called »Utrip«. Just a glance at the tracklist of a mere eight songs and a hefty 50 minutes of music hints that this is a band that loves to experiment, both sonically and stylistically. Compared to a promising debut that hinted at the octet’s huge potential, Orkestrada have taken a clear step forward with the new album, in a self-evolving bloom of artistic expression. They’ve stretched and loosened up the compositional structures even more, delivering a unique, one-of-a-kind and instantly recognizable musical matter built on a strict art-rock paradigm.
The band fuses multiple genres into a one-of-a-kind musical jigsaw puzzle. That fusion is wildly vivid (rich in shifting motifs), and with its unburdened trial-and-error approach the album speaks in a provocative and, consequently, thoroughly unusual way. That’s why »Utrip« feels considerably more special and shines, if not downright surprises, with a clearly perceptible intensity and a free-spirited expression that the somewhat cautious debut never managed to develop years ago. »Utrip« is a peculiar mix, a musical adventure and a finely wrought picture book that brings together elements of alternative rock, jazz, folk, cabaret, pop and soul, as well as classical music (thanks to the variety the flute brings to the album) and even blues (Blažena). Given that vocalist Rada Kikelj Drašler wrote all the lyrics (poetry, that is), and at the same time strikes an extremely dominant pose in delivering them vocally, the whole album carries a strong singer-songwriter character.
The strictly shape-shifting, constantly exploring drums and percussion of Vid Drašler, warm, organic and intensely so, sound provocatively jazzy throughout. The instrumentalists are jazz-schooled, with an alternative-rock contour clearly audible all along, as the opening Zvonec makes plain right away, and the next one, Neurje, even more so, hinting at the layered musical vision of the band’s members . Of all the tracks on the album, the song Neurje is the one that most effectively plugs into radio stations. It’s the most perfectly calibrated art-rock blend of the band’s self-grown arranging aesthetic, one that leaps over (seeming) cross-genre barriers with feather-light ease. The lead motif is tight, punchy and distinctive (if the guitar were given a bit more sonic »grit« and a tenor sax added for support, it would almost sound King Crimson-esque), and it lodges in your ears instantly, while the song as a whole carries an alt-art-rock sheen, sounds dark, yet still breaks through to radio rotation without any trouble. Utrip and Blažena then reveal an extraordinary softness, a fine mechanics, in all the building blocks of the album, with the vocals out front, of course. Orkestrada keep teasing throughout by speaking with great distinctiveness, while developing sturdy motifs that keep the material accessible to the listener. That kind of balance is hard to achieve. You’re either too shallow in your expression or too heavy, but with Orkestrada there’s nothing to fear on that front, since they cruise the ideal middle ground all the way, which means the quintet carried out its mission on »Utrip« with an outstanding level of craft in creating and arranging the compositions.
Rada Kikelj Drašler’s voice is an absolutely special story within everything the album “Utrip” has to offer. The singer has an exceptionally colorful palette of vocal expression up her sleeve. She works like a chameleon. She can be thoroughly pop-friendly, or eccentric, even lucid. That’s why she’d work extremely well in an alternative-rock setting too. The voice can come across as eccentric, and often deliberately introduces a feeling of dissonant lines. There’s really plenty of vocal experimentation throughout, and with it Rada often casts herself in the role of an »additional instrument«.
The song Tajkuni sounds eerie, and in the second half a »slipped-in« Latin rhythm sweeps it into a completely different mood. Here the instruments adapt with special dedication to the extremely strong confessional character of the vocals, and the listener’s »blood runs cold«, so well do the messages of the verses »grab« in the vocal interpretation itself, which gives a jolt in its biting opening as she dictates with all the developed nature of fiery authority.
The building blocks of the sound, that is guitar, flute, double bass and drums, coexist in an extremely dynamic and always conciliatory dialogue, developing a symbiotic relationship, and alongside all the cores and sturdy motifs the compositions carry, they also open up plenty of room for each other to stretch out fully in the solo excursions they’re given. The instrumentation builds an eclectic sound, but that element would by no means stand out so much without the vocal contribution of the incredibly distinctive, penetrating and thoroughly polished Rada Kikelj Drašler. In the second half of the track Gumb in košček sanj (two numbers combined into “one”; the refreshed Košček sanj already appeared on the debut) she gives the poetry such a special vocal character that it probably also reflects an inspiration from the late singer of The Cranberries, Dolores O’Riordan. Gumb in košček sanj is the integral track, though not because it’s the longest. Simply because it brings together in one place, in the most fitting way, everything Orkestrada had achieved artistically up to 2018. »Utrip« in miniature, in other words.
The last two songs release the »tension« (or the pronounced artistic »seriousness«) of the album, which hits its peak in the dark Tajkuni. The first is the instrumental, jazzily light, laid-back and playful Mala zvezda, followed by the closing Proslava za deseti rojstni dan, which has a cheeky and even mischievous tone, with the vocals once again used as an additional instrument in improvisation.
»Utrip« counts as one of the best releases, or full-length studio achievements, to come out in Slovenia this year. Plain and simple. It sounds distinctly its own, carries an eclectic contour, feels daring and brave, since it doesn’t hold back from the challenges of experimenting and trying things out (fusing, too), while at the same time bearing the clearly crafted character of the musical vision of the band’s five members, led by the striking, incredibly penetrating and distinctive vocals of Rada Kikelj Drašler.
Let me finally cut this essay off, because it’s getting too long. What we have here is a fully »polished« and expressively »slammin’« art rock album, so make sure you check it out. Especially if you’re after the unusual, which Slovenia has plenty of, it’s just hard to find, because it’s sadly often hidden, chronically and unfairly underfed by the media, and the ministry in charge of musical art (culture, that is) in this home country mostly treats it, knowingly, in a thoroughly stepmotherly way. But that’s another story.
Lineup
Rada Kikelj Drašler – poetry, vocals
Asja Grauf – flute
Boštjan Franetič – electric guitar
Thierno Diallo – double bass
Vid Drašler – drums
Production
Orkestrada
