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Written in fRoots issue 297, 2008
 

KRIES
Kocijani
Kopito KR 006 CD (2008)

Mojmir Novaković, a tall, gaunt figure, charismatic in live shows, has a kind of voice of the ages, hoarse and gruff, descending sometimes to a deep Iggy Popness. In the new expanded seven-piece line-up of Kries he’s surrounded by the scrubbing, restless rhythms of the Dalmatian knee-fiddle lijerica, squealing Balkan bagpipes and breathy flutes, a guitarist rejoicing in the electric delights of chime, chop, vibrato and wah-wah, and a bassist squeezing out greasy fuzz and lurching slabs of searing, shredding, whistling, excitingly nearly out of control overdriven and feedback sounds. The album’s British producer Martin Swan, creator of Scots Gaelic band Mouth Music, contributes his soaring violin, and a four-member Dalmatian klapa acapella vocal group joins on three tracks. Kicking it all is the gutty boom and clatter of a kit drummer and tapan-wielding percussionist.
      The big, strong, edgy, rough-textured result makes Kries unique in Croatia, embracing the strength of the country’s traditional song and projecting some of its key instrumental sounds in a wide-screen, big-stage way. It has none of the triteness that most western folk-rock slipped into after its initial exciting period, nor is there a devitalising itch to display jazz or other smart chops, and it isn’t shaped to conform to the prevailing shallow dullness of most of the music on today’s Croatian media; it’ll be interesting to see how much airplay it gets in its home country.
      No, what’s happening here seems to be in part a reconnection with something western folk-rock forgot, the freedom of invention of late-60s psychedelia, to engage wholly with the minimal, hypnotic melodies of Croatian village music.
      All the tracks are traditional songs, expanded with melodic and lyrical additions (including fragments in English that are perhaps a tad over-cosmic) by Novakovic, and their old imagery - dove, knight, golden ring, sun, St.George’s eve bonfire, a drowned sister’s spirit, the stresses of village life and love - is shown as timeless and iconic. Without any change having been made to its simple four lines of lyrics, a song describing a young girl watching the flock in a green meadow can be heard as a plea for a world without the landmines that are scattered across its fields, including in post-war Croatia.
      This new Kries debuted with a brief two-show January trip to Britain. Reports from Glasgow’s Celtic Connections were promising, and the following night’s triumphant album-launch showcase at London’s Pizza on the Park was proof that Kries, with its depth, texture, visual charisma and plenty of tribal-dance impelling but never four-square rhythms, is likely to be the welcome spearhead of Croatian roots music on the world’s stages.

      www.kries.info, www.myspace.com/kries144. UK distributor Discovery.


© 2008 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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