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I well remember the Slovenian duo Silence through their early albums, the excellent Ma Non Troppo & the less successful Unlike A Virgin but I was surprised to discover that not only are they still going but that they've also signed to Accession, who have relaunched the band with this double, featuring one compilation disc, subtitled 'Anthology' & a disc of unreleased pieces. As the first disc is compiled chronologically it's easy to see how their sound has developed from the earlier days, which is represented here by the trip hop-flavoured "La Troia", which is one decent example (although only the symphonic synthpop of "I Love You" gives any clue as to how varied Ma Non Troppo in particular actually was) while the annoying "PS", complete with scratched-record effects & the godawful cover of Elvis' "Girl of My Best Friend" show them at their worst, totally jarring swearing & all (& it's not as if I'm a fan of the original either!). The later material is characterised by a greater accoustic presence that takes much of its inspiration from their homeland (both musically & lyrically) as Hladnik & vocalist Benko, aided by various guests, spread their musical wings in a most appealing manner. The criminally short "Chant-Resprise" is a good example of what this can mean as it builds into a soaring, majestic climax that has an intoxicatingly exotic edge to it while "Krajilestvo Macjih Oci" & the strangely-titled "The 5th Elephant" both capture the heart through some rather beautiful melodies, the latter especially benefitting from the greater accoustic presence, namely violin & One major surprise is the Ernst Horn remix of "Scream, Greeneyes", a punchy, surging pop track with Blanko's vocals ranging from a creditable falsetto & a more gritty style for the chorus that, backed by some superb synths work, is a real cracker while the cover of "Hall Of Mirrors" again works well as it's actually less soporithic than the original with a greater melodic range & cool-as-you-like spoken voice by Anne Clark.
Concerning disc two, it's uually it's easy to see why unreleased material wasn't deemed fit to release but there's some not bad stuff here with the dark synthpop of "Puta Royale" proving the pick of the bunch while the lovely piano work of "Der Untergang" ably evokes a dark rainy night in a European city although resprising the same theme in a Parisian style & that of a 60s beat band, as the following tracks do, is pushing it a bit. A trio of decent instrumentals bring proceedings to a close (including the mainly accoustic "God Forsaken Country") & while I could list a number of unjust omissions this nevertheless acts as a decent introduction to a band that, whilst not always hitting the spot, could, on their day, mix it with the best of them. The later tracks in particular cause me to look forward to what they might come up with next. |
