Nagy & Beni - Na Hnúsenkovej Dráhe (2022)
By Flork (contact)
It’s another late Sunday morning and I’m not sure whether to eat a late breakfast or just wait for lunch. Either way, I’ve got the munchies, so I opt for a classic Slovak after-school snack – I cut a rožok in half and spread bambino cheese over the surfaces and stick it in the oven to toast. Later, once it’s ready, I’ll drizzle some Polish-produced ketchup over the two halves and nech sa páči, mini-pizza po Bratislavský a.k.a. pizza rožky (Bratislava-style mini pizzas that give Dr. Oetker a run for his money).
As I eat (and burn my tongue a bit), I listen with interest to the weird and creepy blend of folk and rap from the lads from Trnava, Nagy & Beni (there are 4 members listed on the bandcamp.com site, but only 3 are seen in the picture).
The 6-song EP opens with Načo sa stále niekam (Why anywhere), a blues/medieval/folk tune with great production that focuses on the flute, guitar, and vocals. There are moments of suspense throughout the track where it seems that the band is readying to explode and rock out, but it never happens. In fact, around the 3-minute mark, the song seems to change completely, yet keeps the light and suspenseful distortion of an electric guitar humming in the background. And then it’s full-circle, back to the acoustic guitar riff that’s heard at the beginning.
I finish my pizza rožky and contemplate making some more. Instead, I listen to the second track, Pľundrovačka (Plundering), which is kind of a combination of drunken rap and folk, yet has the potential to be a lot heavier if played on electric instruments. But that’s not the band’s intention. According to their bio, they were formed in 2016 and went from electric guitar and bass, as well as drums, to wind instruments and acoustics. So, for anyone listening to the band for the first time, you may find the music not just odd, but a little light and perhaps even dull at times. But if you go to their YouTube channel and click on their earlier stuff like Sporádek, you’ll see a highly energised foursome totally emersed in their sounds and music and rocking out intensely. It just appears that in the last 6 years the band has evolved and found a different, more comfortable direction, yet still retain important elements from their early days. At the time of writing this review, they had 21 subscribers, but now have 22.
Snažil som sa byť zbytočný (I tried to be useless), the longest track on the EP is perhaps the creepiest and tedious out of all the tracks. It is a never-ending repetition of the title and sounds a bit like Sid Vicious trying to sing Frank Sinatra. Fortunately, we are saved from the monotony of this long-winded composition by Nagyezsda nádasdi (untranslatable) and Deti detí (The children of children), the last 2 tracks on the EP. Both are very original in style and have a subdued punk vibe, but still weird and creepy like the rest of the album.
I go back to the kitchen and make another pizza rožok, however, this time I don’t finish eating it. It just doesn’t taste as good as the first one. And maybe the same can be said about Na Hnúsenkovej Dráhe, as this album leaves a strange taste in the mouth too. The production is top-notch and the talent is there, but I‘m not totally sure whether I want to listen to more, as somehow their earlier stuff intrigues me more. It’s a little too weird for my taste, but I can still see fans buying it and supporting it, and it would be interesting to see how they incorporate into their live sets.
Na Hnúsenkovej Dráhe can be purchased for 5 euros from bandcamp.com for unlimited live streaming, or 5 euros for cassette.
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