Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Primarna
Label: Self-released
Release: 2014
Rating: 3.5/5
Primarna are an old rock band from Nova Gorica who got going back in 1989. In 1992 they put out the cassette »Provokator«, and then, after a string of live appearances, they called it quits. In 2012 they got back together (without renaming themselves »Sekundarna«, mind you) and in 2013 and 2014 recorded their comeback album »Ven it’ v mesto«.
Sure, three long years have passed since December 2014, which makes the timeliness of this review highly debatable, but it’s only right that we cover rock music made by Slovenian artists in the broadest possible sense of the word, even if such studio efforts often land in our editorial office with a considerable delay.
Anyway, Primarna crammed a hefty thirteen tracks onto their new album. Considering how faithfully, almost stubbornly, they stick to a recognizable stylistic character that doesn’t handle genre detours well, that’s a pretty respectable number. At the same time, it would be surprising if all thirteen tracks, given their rustic rock sound, were really written in the two years after the reunion, so it’s very likely the band also got some very old musical ideas onto the album, dragged out of their dusty archives.
What Primarna play is utterly elemental, thoroughly genuine, stripped bare, without a speck of added kitsch, and true to their name: primary rock’n’roll. With an added dash of Goriška sentiment. The songs are mostly cut in a mid-tempo rhythmic manner with a gentle gallop, the guitars keep an »old school« semi-acoustic sound, and in that respect the album pulses with life, thoroughly live-sounding. The vocals would fit in just fine in any alternative rock episode, but the mostly unpretentious vocal »humming and grumbling« breathes just the right temperament into the poetry, the true spirit of the Slovenian voice of the street. The voice of the working class, which swallows every injustice that comes its way. And if you do get wronged, you’d rather sting yourself than whoever’s causing it. Social criticism is not left out, and at the same time the band brings a noticeable note of lucid sarcasm to the songs. There’s artistic sensitivity and sincerity here too. An incredibly genuine character runs through this record, both in the playing and in the vocal delivery of the poetry, and that is its main virtue.
That the band belongs to the old-rock tradition is confirmed all the more by the fun boogie rock romp of the wryly cheeky Radio depresija, while flirting with the blues is practically natural for a band with the pedigree of Primarna (Poštarski bluz). In the song Veter Peter the band even tips its hat to the figure and work of J. J. Cale. In short, the album delivers a heap of old-school rock ‘n’ roll aesthetics »Slovenian style«, and in that sense it reflects something lost in time and space, because a vibe like this can be put on record so authentically today only by a generation that lived through the eighties and soaked up the energy of the rock pioneers of the seventies and sixties.
Primarna – Veter Peter (official video):
Lineup
Božidar Batistič – Boško – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
Leon Ukmar – electric guitar, vocals
Dejan Brilj – bass guitar
Borut Ožbot – drums
Production
Dejan Brilj
Tracklist
01. Ven it’ v mesto
02. Kako znajo
03. Radio depresija
04. Rokenrol al’ rokenrol
05. Poštarski bluz
06. Zapri oči
07. Ohola dekleta
08. Masten tisk
09. Veter Peter
10. Manj kot imam
11. Dan zaposlovanja
12. Apaurin
13. Vrtejba
