ALBUM REVIEW: Shantel
- Posted on October 8, 2007 1:16 PM
- 0 comments
Shantel
Disko Partizani
Now, when you receive an album that’s partly lauded for its abilities to resurrect a ‘dead genre’ you tend to raise an eyebrow, especially when the genre’s as tragically moribund as that of ‘European Dance.’ The woes of this musical milieu are predicated in Europe’s inexorable ties to musical kitsch; year after year the Eurovision Song Contest, as wonderful as it is, seems to magically parody the year’s previous incarnation with some sick costume montage. It all makes me wonder how long this seemingly unwitting farce can continue before the magic reflects back in on itself – destroying everything, forever.
Okay, so my analogy is somewhat tenuous, but this is what happened to European dance music: it became so removed from its musical roots, and ridden with commercialist clichés that we stopped listening to it. It was all just too torpid, vacuous and naff. ‘Disko Partizan’ is set to assuage the frustration encountered by a generation – assimilating disparate genres to create a fresh sound which aims to synthesise Europe(s) both old and new.
On first listen you’d be forgiven for thinking that the idea of splicing dance rhythms with folk-led instrumentals is incredibly simple. Why not just do this sort of thing all the time? Well, because it’s bloody hard. Can you imagine the potential car-crash bourn out of fusing West-End club culture with a plethora of folk influences? To achieve the right balance you really need to know your Bulgarian Gadulkas from your Hungarian Gaidas. And thankfully Shantel’s Balkan-tipped clubbing experience creates an equilibrium of very sustainable proportions.
For one, on listening to this record I feel as if there’s a palpable sense of abandon about it all. Dance music for all its nods toward bohemian existence tends to be incredibly staid – drawing from a very select and pithy assortment of references. Shantel’s latest offering incorporates a myriad of cultural apertures; dance here is a context, not an end point. It is this freeing of a genre courtesy of the sheer optimism provided by a spectrum of European folk that makes this album so fantastic. And what’s more, it does it all without a hint of artifice.
European benevolence is only just beginning to resurface following a rather murky hundred years – should you feel Partizan enough to strap that one on, you should probably give it a listen.
- Andrew Willis
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