GONDOLA

After almost 10 years since the previous studio album, Laza Ristovski was back on the scene with "Gondola". In the meantime, unfortunately, he suffered a severe illness due to which he has been tied to a wheelchair, restricting his activities almost entirely to work in his studio, one of the best in Serbia.

Ristovski makes instrumental, "ambient" music close to what is generally labelled "New Age" electronic music, related to the contemporary works of Vangelis or Jean-Michel Jarre. In an interview he states that he thinks of his music as being impressionist, the music of mood and reminiscent of the nature. Along with his usual assortment of keyboards (Hammond organ, Mini Moog, Oberheim OBXA, PPG, piano), drum machines and Macintosh G4 computer, Slavica Djordjevic effectively added background female vocals as another instrument. "Gondola" is perhaps his best-crafted studio work to date, with tracks following one another in a smooth, relaxing manner.

It is overall extremely light electronic music that sometimes approaches the Muzak territory ("Dragan", "Nebo nad Beogradom"). But in other moments, Ristovski makes extremely melodic, catchy and pleasant compositions, showing his instrumental virtuosity and adding jazz tones ("Lavirint" - probably the best track on the album, "Super Nova" - a sort of "crossover symphony") or traditional folk melodies ("Bit- ola" - cover of a Macedonian traditional actually referring to the town of Bitola in Macedonia) with appealing rhythmic structures. "Nebo nad Beogradom" ("The Skies Over Belgrade") and especially the wonderful closing title track "Gondola" contain what sounds like "electronic harp", thus making a reference to the late 1980s ambient works of Andreas Vollenweider, a Swiss magician of electric harp. "Vesela pesma" ("The Merry Melody") sounds very much like Vangelis' typical synthesiser soundscapes.

"Gondola" is an easy, laid-back album that can be listened to at any time. However, it is not your typical background music that serves only to ease and support your daily activities. It contains enough interesting instrumental and composing elements to be recommended not only to the electronic freaks but also to general prog audience. I am personally not a fan of this type of Electronica and would rate it maximum ***1/2 stars.