TENA NOVAK

The band line up consists of their name sake Tena Novak Vincek on violin. She also composes the music for the band. There is also Lana Berakovic (cello), Andrea Dizdar (flute), Vedrana Dizdar (clarinet), Dina Dorotic (piano), Igor Dorotic (trumpet), Ana Kovacic (alto saxophone), and Hrvoje Pelicaric (effects, mixing). This album consists of 6 epic tracks that have a combined run- time of 56 minutes. The album is self-released and available on Bandcamp.

The album starts off with "Elf Dance for Violin and Cello No. 7" (10:28). Right away you get the impression that the band has expanded beyond the boundaries of their earlier work in that the music is purely classical sounding, written for specific instruments. For example, this track is all performed on violin and cello. That's it. The classical sound seems to be rooted in the early impressionistic style, not really the standard classical style, per se, but more along the lines of the late Romantic and early 20th Century styles, with some excellent emotional passages, but with the non-standard harmonies and modes of Debussy, Ravel or Stravinsky. The composition is quite impressive and the musicianship matches perfectly. There are fast moving passages and slower, more pensive sections. There are great instances of counterpoint between the violin and cello, each playing some fantastic parts. The music is also quite dynamic and expressive.

"Meditation for Flute and Clarinet" (7:01) is exactly what the title says. Its a nice, simple and meditative piece with the two instruments playing in counterpoint and sometimes echoing each other in a variation of a "round" style. It remains slow and reflective through the entire piece. "Suite for Clarinet, Violin and Piano" (10:15) suggests a group of shorter songs brought together in a larger work for the 3 instruments. This is basically what you get too, with the varying shorter songs only separated by the tempo or meter changes. This track returns to the more dynamic style of the first track, and not as meandering or meditative like the 2nd track. Plus the tempo and meter shifts make things more interesting, that is because of the structure of a suite, each section varying from playful to pastoral and everywhere in between, yet each shorter segment well developed. Excellent track! "Meditation for Trumpet Solo" (6:31) is exactly what the title suggests, a reflective track played only by the trumpet. As with the previous meditation, this one is simple and pensive.

"European Sopila" (10:47) starts off with the alto saxophone playing solo, then the violin joins in with a counterpoint melody. Soon piano chords and notes are added in. After 2 minutes, the tempo of the piano becomes more frantic and the sax and violin build off of this. The three instruments continue to create another dynamic and every changing piece that varies from slow, melodic passages to faster, playful sections, though it is all continuous moving from one section to another seamlessly. All 3 instruments stay together even when the tempo slowly speeds up over time. It is obvious how the ensemble stays so well connected attributing to their musicianship and what were many hours of practice together.

The last track "Cognitionsis" (11:16) features simply the violin and piano. The piano starts off with a lovely, slow melody based around chords. After a minute, the piano and violin come in together with a faster tempo, and a somewhat dissonant sound. The piano chords played previously alluded to the more dissonant style of this piece. The track continues with changing tempos and dynamics with the instruments complimenting each other beautifully.

This album definitely veers away from the typical post rock style and definitely uses original classical styles featuring small ensembles and no percussion except for the piano. The music is excellently composed and the recording and sound is superb. The musicianship is also top notch giving evidence that these are classically trained musicians. Those that do not like classical music (for small ensembles) will probably find this boring, but it is actually amazing music with a lot of dynamics, at least for the tracks that are not the meditations, as they are more pensive and unchanging, while the other 4 tracks are quite dynamic. The only way this is post rock is in the fact that it is in opposition to any traditional rock, though it is progressive in a classical music sense. It does remain somewhere between the Romantic and the Impressionistic styles, with a good mixture of both traditional and dissonant music. It definitely was a pleasant surprise for me.

It's a double album, which is rare considering the circumstances of releasing albums in Croatia, especially for an obscure band.

Secondly, it's a mixture between Krautrock and post-rock. I think that describes their music best.

It consists of two discs. One of them contains 7 songs varying in length from 7 to 16 minutes. Most of it is a slow-paced music with beautiful ornaments, spreading their sonic spectrum from Kraut and post rock to calm and moody violin folk melodies, picked or e-bowed guitar, space atmospheres, even traces of vintage disco. Some moments are absolutely stunning, with melodies so gorgeous and wrapped so smartly it's hard to believe. In my opinion, that was the strongest aspect of this band. They're great with dynamics too - in a word, they're amusing and never boring.

The other disc is another story.

It contains only one CD-long track, clocking at more than seventy minutes. It is called 'Nazovi Kako Hoces', which means 'Call It Whatever You Like'. I got a feeling it's what the folks from the band said to their publisher, Mr. Franjic when he asked them what is the name of the long, untitled track. But I might be wrong. It implies the title is not necessary - basically it's a spontaneous jam, which was the most common way this band was doing their rehearsals. It's the aspect of work this band identified themselves. And there are some great moments, on-par with the another disc. But I prefer more organised approach; I love the other disc much more. If...only if they were able to pick some of the best of those spontaneous ideas and make a few more songs out of it, this album would be a masterpiece. A double-CD masterpiece.

Unfortunately it is not, and a long jam drags up a bit. It ends almost abruptly with a sudden fade-out, hinting the jam continued for God knows how long. But I must say there are valuable moments here, and it's almost unbelievable how they managed to shift from mood to mood, from one pace to another, to almost entirely different sonic spectrum and atmosphere. One must wonder what would have happened if the band didn't, sadly, disbanded shortly after. If they were so strong at jamming and bursting with ideas, there would be plenty of worthy material for another three albums.

Perhaps the man guilty of setting their mindsets in jam-based expression is DAMO SUZUKI. They collaborated with him, they made a tour around former-Yugoslavia in mid-2000's, and it was all spontaneous chemistry. The bad was free to play what they want, they only needed to go absolutely crazy when Damo gives a sign. I'm curios to know how those live gigs sounded like.

So, in my opinion, this is a band that went astray because they underestimated their own songwriting abilities. But taking all the parameters into account, this is a very good record. And must mention many of the atmospheres here are underlined with Fender Rhodes piano which somewhat resembles Led Zeppelin's 'No Quarter'. Need I say more?

I feel pity I'm rating it with three stars, because it deserves almost four.

A good album, unique, and sadly, it would probably never get attention in musical world it deserves. And believe me, it does so.