Eyot - Horizon (2011)

Ahora presentamos una joven y exquisita banda serbia. Ya hemos traído grandes trabajo de ese paìs y como vemos la hermosura sale de todos lados del planeta. Mezclan el jazz con el post-rock, ambient, folk de la Europa Oriental y lineas de piano clásico en una experimentaciòn deliciosa y composiciones magistrales. Descubran este disco porque la banda es toda una revelación, como de esas que uno tiene de vez en cuando, como esos poemas escuchados accidentalmente y que terminan siendo una caricia del brisa marina, este disco lo descubrí sin buscarlo y resultó ser un brillante descubrimiento que ahora comparto con todos ustedes. Super recomendado!!!!

Artista: Eyot

Álbum: Horizon
Año: 2011
Género: Jazz Rock / Fusion
Duración: 67:11
Nacionalidad: Serbia

Lista de Temas:
01. Far Afield
02. Stone Upon Stone Upon Stone
03. If I Could Say What I Want to Say
04. All I Want to Say
05. Surge
06. 3 Months Later
07. Horizon
08. Whale Song
09. It’s Time to Go Home

Alineación:
- Dejan Ilijic / piano
- Sladjan Milenovic / guitar
- Milos Vojvodic / drums
- Marko Stojiljkovic / Bass

Este es el primer trabajo de esta revelaciòn servia que descubrì gracias a el motor que aprieta el gatillo, un disco justo para borrar miedos y dejar que el corazón repose y mejore, músicos jóvenes de Serbia creando un rica experimentación, una instrumentación en busca de sonidos frescos que buscarán la calma de la agitación de aquella eterna lucha irresistible entre la bella y bestia que todos llevamos dentro. Un trabajo experimentador pero evocador y exquisito a la vez, donde no solamente prima ea inteligencia, al aventura sino sobre todo la sensibilidad.
Osadas improvisaciones de jazz junto con la perfección de piano clásico, elementos de la música popular de Europa del Este y una fusión ecléctica sobre una base de post-rock minimalista. Algunos los comparan con E.S.T. pero de verdad que su estilo es muy particular en su esencia, bastante original y lleno de emociones, que por suerte priman sobre todos los elementos que aquì se entuentran. Es destacable la gran habilidad de los músicos y el gran potencial creativo que tiene el grupo. Una memorable música bien que merecen su propia lugar en este lugar de buena mùsica, y aquì presentamos su álbum debut, pero no serà el único.
Disfruten del viaje que les prepara Eyot, unos servios que seguramente los sorprenderán con su versatilidad y delicadeza. Un alimento para el alma y el corazòn inquieto, para que la bella y la bestia descansen plàcidamente y se dejen llevar por la magia de los sonidos.
Casi no hay datos en la web, y menos en castellano, estos son de los pocos reviews que encontrè apretando el gatillo de Google.

Formed in 2008 by pianist and composer Dejan Ilijic, EYOT creates a distinctive and rather beautiful sound based on a mix of jazz, prog rock and contemporary classical influences. The Serbian quartet's debut, Horizon, recorded in November 2009, is a collection of nine Ilijic tunes, showcasing his sparse and surprisingly delicate approach to composition.
The band is adept at building each tune gradually, layering sounds on top of each other with restraint and creating real tensions. Often this involves bassist Marko Stojiljkovic and drummer Milos Vojvodic playing a repetitive, insistent rhythm over which Ilijic adds his piano lines. Sladjan Milenovic's guitar, often coupled with electronic effects, is used effectively to give additional color and dynamics to the music.
It's a consistently successful approach. The tension created on "Stone Upon Stone Upon Stone" becomes almost unbearable but still keeps the attention, while the lengthy and delicate "Surge" builds almost imperceptibly around Milenovic's fragile and controlled guitar solo. "Whale Song" creates a sad, almost desolate, soundscape and contrasts effectively with the happier and more up-tempo opening to "It's Time To Go Home."
There are a couple of exceptions to EYOT's approach. The lovely though brief "If I Could Say What I Wanted To Say" features Illijic's spacious and romantic piano, supported by some subtle touches from Milenovic's guitar. "3 Months Later," with guest trombonist Vladan Drobicki and saxophonist Vasko Bojadžiski, begins typically, with Ilijic's rolling piano motif, before Vojvodic emphasizes the 4/4 rhythm with a solid drum beat, which is soon echoed by the bass. Once the trombone and tenor saxophone enter, however, the tune takes on a much freer pattern, with an assertiveness to the sound that also darkens the tune's mood until Ilijic's piano motif returns.
The low-key, almost minimalist sound of Horizon is refreshing—the sound of a band that knows how to hold back, and realize how effective such an approach can be. EYOT has made an emphatic and impressive recording debut.

Bruce Lindsay

I’ve recently discovered Serbian jazz fusion thanks to my friend and colleague Mr. Nikola Savić. I’ve liked the Vasil Hadžimanov Band for a while now, but the other day I started listening to Smak and fell in love. I’ve just begun to plumb the jazz-depths of this country that is unfortunately more well-known in the West for its terrorism and genocide than excellent musical tradition. It would be as if the Nazi Holocaust invalidated hundreds of years of German classical music.
EYOT is a newcomer to the Serbian jazz scene. Nick knows a lot more about them, and was actually supposed to write this review, but I think I can do a good job. Anyway if you want to find out more about the band, feel free to read the interview Nick did with Dejan Ilijić almost a year ago. We also have the title track of their album on our second Progstravaganza compilation Nick actually just saw them play in their home town of Niš, Serbia, the other day. Lucky, him!
EYOT is a very musically interesting band. Horizon makes me think of Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way because of its “quiet intensity”. Miles Davis’ album has a sort of divine subtlety to it that belies its incredible complexity. It’s a rhythmic masterpiece of delicate complexity. Horizon is similar in this way, but not musically. It achieves this same wonderful feeling via completely different methods, and this leads me to believe it was unintentional (despite Davis being listed as an influence). That said, the fact that they achieved it at all is wonderful, in my eyes. Another comparison could be made to Pekka Pohjola – the Finnish jazz fusion artist known for his tenure in Wigwam. I am reminded strongly of the title track on my favorite Pohjola album, Katkavaraan Lohikaarme (if you try to google the album keep in mind that it has a lot of umlauts that I can’t type on my American keyboard). Again, the music isn’t similar, but the basses manage to achieve the same goal for me – a sort of rhythmic bliss.
The quiet intensity on Horizon comes from the juxtaposition of Dejan’s grand piano over the driving beat of the rhythm section (Miloš and Marko on drums and bass, respectively). To complete the sound, we have Slađan with his incredibly spacey guitars. The best example of this that I can think of is their track “Stone Upon Stone Upon Stone”. The music is composed so subtly that it manages to build to a thundering crescendo without the listener even realizing it. Once you finally get it, waves of sound are crashing over you and suddenly fall down again to begin the next track. I also love that there are parts of the album that deviate strongly from this, such as the experimental parts of 3 Months Later, which includes a horn section, and the energetic finale, It’s Time to Go Home. This helps to ensure it doesn’t get monotonous, which is a good thing considering the album is over an hour long.
Musically I wouldn’t call this pure jazz, but spiritually and aesthetically it couldn’t be jazzier. It has jazz’s unpretentious “coolness” seeping throughout, just welcoming you in. It’s very spacy in a way though, somewhat like the various forms of psychedelic rock that Nick insists are different but to me all sound like twisted parodies of Ozric Tentacles (which is itself a twisted parody of a few things, so you figure it out).
Anyway, buy the album. Support new bands in countries far across the globe! Eat some Serbian kajmak and pljeskavica while listening to Eyot.

Dan Thaler