LINES IN SAND

Towards the end of 2018 I stumbled upon some Live @ Binta Sound youtube videos from this crew, which were recorded in 2016. And immediately was flashed due to so much playfullness and technical skills. What a great discovery, not noticed beforehand, although the band already is under way for several years now. As one might expect, they are headed by Vasil Hadzimanov from Serbia, who is pulling the strings, being responsible for compositions and arrangements, also catering for electric piano and synths on top of it. He has gathered an exceptional crew of Balkan musicians, who all together deliver a really superb effort with this album. A multi-coloured one, rooted in jazz fusion for sure, though also wandering around diverse other meadows like balkan folk, soul, funk and dub in between.

The songs are fading into each other, for the benefit of a better flow, with the result of one enjoyable epic. They are starting with the album title track, yet rather conventional, though this nevertheless shows the band's qualities while appointing every particular instrument in its unique shape. Featuring proper saxophone support the funky Mr. Moonjune follows as a homage to Leonardo Pavkovic, the founder of the associated label. The fulminant closing section then points to the album's tricky character for the first time. The charming Lost offers nice female vocals and perfectly introduced percussion, where Kazi Gradiska will release all brakes finally, leading into a chain of highly entertaining compositions furthermore.

I really adore Maklik, close to Ozric Tentacles somehow, simple beat though an irresistably funky groove, spacey guitars and synths on top. For Clara sees american jazz vocalist Dean Bowman participating, tricky rhythm work, Hadzimanov totally meets my faible for sophisticated soul music. The sensational Branko Trijic is juggling with diverse guitar styles and tones over the course, definitely deserves that special attention with his short solo part called Waiting For .... Finally they are turning over to some ethnic Balkan music flair with Freedom From The Past. A very talented band. One or two may argue that not every song exactly meets the prog scheme, but overall 'Lines In The Sand' is a variable, fresh, non vintage jazz album. Would really like to experience them live eventually.