Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Bernays Propaganda
Label: Moonlee Records
Release: 2013
Duration: 37:45
Rating: 4/5
The Macedonian defenders of alternative rock culture Bernays Propaganda are definitely, with the sharpness of their musical-language sermon, one of the most interesting bands of the younger generation, and count as one of the leading figures in generating a healthy »underground« scene, growing under the wing of the independent label Moonlee Records.
The band has always drawn from the legacy of post punk (even “shoegaze”) and eighties new wave rock culture, and this time that feeling is still very much there. The core of the band’s musical philosophy, established with the predecessors »Happiness Machines«(2009) and »My Personal Holiday« (2010), stays intact with the new release too. »Zabraneta planeta« (in translation »Forbidden Planet«), the first album with a »homey« Macedonian title, does serve up a few novelties, though. The longer break between the previous record and this one was surely welcome, because the new ideas had enough time to ripen into a tightly inspired statement that feels fresh, adventurous and artistically provocative in its message.
The new album hits harder than its two predecessors. It carries a rawer, more garage-live and more dynamic sound. The guitar is used even better in the production picture, and Krtistina Gorovska’s vocals sit even more beautifully »sunk« into the roaring echo of the guitar layers in the background of the sonic image. With Bernays Propaganda the guitar isn’t there to hold the songs together with a guitar phrase (a riff), but works up front as an effective mood-filler of the space in the sound picture! Up front, too, you’ve got the full-blooded contrast of Kristina Gorevska’s vocals and, set against them, the pronounced figure of solid rhythms, nicely thickened with the rattling contour of the bass guitar lines. Even so, a casual ear can easily tell that the guitar on the new album makes even more inventive use of the available space in its search for sparkling solutions than it did on either of the band’s previous albums. The same goes for the moments when the roaring guitar lines spill over one another within the same motif, deepening the atmospheric reach and the mood-grabbing hunger of the songs themselves.
One of the most appealing elements when we talk about the music of Bernays Propaganda is surely Kristina Gorevska’s vocal delivery. Authoritative as ever and fully sovereign in her dictates, she keeps that feisty, girlish defiance. That stomping nature of a vocal sermon, often delivering deliberately »chopped-off verses« (without building a vocal melody), sits perfectly with the band’s art-punk spur.
If the post punk element doesn’t step straight into the foreground when the opening »Pogrešno zname« (in translation »Wrong Flag«) and then »Makedonski son« (in translation »Macedonian Sun«) roll by, the simple, danceable, swaying rhythmic push backed by the voluminous bass leg of the third track »A Bone To The Dog« (with verses inspired by the character and work of Jack London) puts things in their rightful post punk place. »Ćuvaj se od tie što te čuvaat« (in translation »Beware of Those Who Protect You«) feels even more supple in that regard, and above all it’s the album’s title track that most plays up this flirtation with post punk.
The band has matured, and you can feel it in the playing itself. Especially in the middle instrumental sections it sounds more confident than ever. The exchange between the guitar parts is thoughtfully placed at chosen spots in the songs, with the aim of optimally boosting the »groove« of the rhythm and, as a result, the moods of the album. The new album also brings more agile drumming, which shows in the richly condensed seasoning of individual transitions within the songs.
Among the tracks on the new album, the last one, »Leb i igri« (in translation »Bread and Circuses«), deserves a special mention. This is the song where the band allowed itself the most adventures in the world of musical experiment, whether in fixing different rhythms and, as a result, laying out different moods, or in stacking differently roaring »sound layers« of guitar phrases. Bernays Propaganda backed the rhythmic structures on this track with extra percussion, added a frenetic tangle of winds toward the end, and in the process caught a touch of spontaneity, a feeling of unpredictable events unfolding. It’s a song without the typical »verse and chorus« form, changing its motif all the way through, from start to finish. It’s a great closer that bluntly »paints the depravity of manipulation by the ruling circus performers, who easily control the steerability of the masses«. At the same time, this song could be a hint at the band’s possible musical direction in the future
»Zabraneta planeta« is a great album, cut in a minimalist way, but with those minimalisms woven thoughtfully into a whole that works at full force. All the building blocks of the story of »Zabraneta planeta« are optimally exposed and live together in balance in the sonic landscape. Above all, Kristina’s vocal delivery remains the main attraction on the new album too. It keeps its sharpness and wildness, while once again bringing in that much-needed element of rebellious refusal and denial. With the third album, Kristina Gorevska’s voice gains a character-defining importance that is the fundamental building block of the band’s self-grown image of musical artistry. Which means that if you take it away, the basic framework of the band’s musical expression collapses. The vocals work in a unique way, and above all it’s once again clear that the songs sung in Macedonian ignite the best. At those points Bernays Propaganda’s musical language reaches its greatest degree of authenticity.
With the new album, creative freshness has returned to the band after the less convincing predecessor »My Personal Holiday. »Zabraneta planeta« is the most mature and polished manifesto of the band’s unique musical presence to date, and with it the band has successfully passed the challenge of musical experiment and aced another studio test.
Line-up
Kristina Gorovska – vocals
Vasko Atanasoski – guitar
Nenad Trifunovski – bass guitar
Džano Kuc – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Jugoslav Stojčeski – percussion on tracks 2 and 9
Saša Pavlović – programming, sound effects on track 9
Vladan Trobicki – trombone on track 9
Vasko Bojadžinski – saxophone on track 9
Panče Bujukliev – synthesizer on track 9
Production
Ivica Jankulovski
Track list
1. Pogrešno zname
2. Makedonski son
3. A Bone to the Dog
4. Bar kultura
5. Čuvaj se od tie što te čuvaat
6. Zabraneta Planeta
7. Ordinary Toy
8. Dodeka krstot ne go zgasne
9. Leb i igri
