Suze u očima
Prekrivaju lice
Iako te volim
Moram da idem
(Butch Cassidy, "Tears in the Eyes")
The Butch Cassidy group is probably our most successful export musically product after a long time. That export leads, of course, primarily to the fraternal republics of our former common homeland, but always with the thought that these guys are only one jolt of space away from European and worldwide success. Well, what makes the Butch Cassidys so special anyway? Because they look and sound like they do cared i from can, leading us through his endless party, in the corners of which real little love dramas take place. Notice - the emphasis is on love.
Although the album of the band Butch Cassidy has just been released Modern connections chronologically considered their third album - they go before it Possessive-ospulsive hospul (2016) and Euphoria (2019) - in the psychological sense, he is actually the haunted one for both the group and the public second album which symbolizes the situation in the career when it is unclear how to repeat the sensational success of the previous edition, and creatively step further. Especially since it has been more than five years and a whole pandemic. In the meantime, therefore, a whole world has changed.
A decade and a half since the formation of the band, Luka Racić and Zoran Zarubica can now comfortably shake off the stardust from their shiny suits and head to any imposing regional concert space, knowing that they will fill it to the brim - even though at first they were not unfamiliar with the much less hyped music halls. Here, for example, is a good example of how their rise to the status of domestic superstars went. In 2016, Butch Cassidy started in the Youth Center of Belgrade very modestly, with a free performance at Milan Mladenović's Plateau, as part of the "Concerts on Zidić" series. Soon after, they heroically shared a live date with Ljubičica at the Dom omladine Club, only to sell out the national team two evenings in a row in the next phase. American. At the Exit festival - although they immediately played on the Main Stage - first it was at the very start of the 2019 program, at eight o'clock in the evening, so that the very next time they would receive the well-deserved status of one of the main stars at the opening of 2021.
The scale of the success of the Butch Cassidy group in the former Yugoslav territory really borders on youthful euphoria and can be traced to their concert activity in the last few years. Not only did they perform in all major cities and festivals in this area, but they also filled stadiums such as Tasmajdan or Šalata. Finally, in the meantime, they also released a special film called Euphoria Live, as well as the entire performance with Taša.
Smart enough.
But if you haven't heard of these two fantastic guys by now and don't know by heart at least a few songs from their previous, fabulous release Euphoria, then it must be that you spent the period between the two records in total auditory isolation, perhaps in some scientific station in Antarctica, or in the Amazon rain forests. Or it was those seven years in Tibet or whatever.
Now, the album. Modern connections it is a very good sequel to the masterpiece that it is Euphoria, with similar themes, that is, those anxious teenage searches for love on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. Its main motive is actually the occurrence of love in everyday settings, miserable and glamorous at the same time. Although Butch Cassidy is following in the old footsteps of the Idols, the real truth is that we have never had a group like this before. Their vintage electronics, enriched with various natural instruments such as acoustic guitar, is a story in itself. What the French Air did with the music of Kraftwerk, Françoise Ardy, Jean-Michel Jarre and Joy Division, Butch Cassidy does the same, but completely differently - with his choice of influences - a few decades later. The zest of their personally interpreted new wave in a completely authentic way, the dislocation of the Yarboli group, the celebration of classics like Alphaville, new romanticism, and in general the electropop of the eighties, but also the Beatles - embodies this insatiable youthful will for love that Butch Cassidy felt, lived and adopted as his personal emblem.
When, for example, you hear the song "After Crying", with the warning chorus: "No return, no regrets", you know that the true successor of the legendary hit "No Love in the Club" has definitely been born. Or when you rush into the dreamy and at the same time frenetic "Trebaš mi", you feel like any disillusioned youth struggling with the need to express the poignant longing of his entire generation. A real expertise of a wrong love relationship falling apart, whichever way you look at it u him, or rather iz him, look up.
And are you ready for "Gather the Strength" and for that dark wing of sadness that lurks under the fever of the weekend? This is an insight into one of the modern relationships, almost from the perspective of the ancient choir, which worriedly advises the girl by reminding her of how many times her lover has already hurt her: "Get ready because it will hurt." Or what Neil Young once said: "Honesty hurts, but a muse has no conscience." That's why the extraordinary "Curimo po asphaltu" is a stunning sound odyssey by vintage sound from the future. What a picture from the title, like when you are walking and you feel that you have sunk into your heart, and your former beloved is moving away from you in a universe made up of the sum of mechanical actions that the former passion turned into. Or the perfect miniature "Tears in the Eyes" - okay, all the tracks from the album Modern connections they have a fascinating start, but this one really blows. It is a choral apotheosis of tears in the eyes "watering the face" - you surely remember what it looks like in the bitterness of early miseries - and it has already been seen to be sung in unison at concerts to come.
But "Sad Loves" is the song for which this record will be remembered: it contains all the qualities that make Butch Cassidy an exceptional phenomenon - elevated emotionality, infectious melody, brilliant style. The feelings here are triggered by a chance meeting on the street, while the lyrics describe the longing for a person and the fear of failure - and we already manage to recognize ourselves in that film, which is a magic that only great authors can perform. The dance rhythm follows the whirlwind of life with which we fight so as not to drown. The chorus is pressed into the chest. Like all their best songs, this one makes us feel as if something special can happen to us at any moment, which will change us forever, and it is hidden under the name of love, even if it is sad.
All the topics of this group can therefore be reduced to the following: the desire for life, for that one good spark. And then it becomes clear to us why Butch Cassidy is so massively popular and what they are Modern connections? Perfect pop melodrama.
