Bleiburg — Pieces of a Broken Dream
The city of Bleiburg is now located in Austria, on the border with Slovenia. It is infamously known as the location where thousands of Croats were murdered by communist partisans. Horrifically, the Croats, who fled their homeland, surrendered to the British, and were told that they were going to be sent to Italy, when, in fact they were put on trains, and directly into the arms of the partisans, who had quickly taken over.
Stefan Rukavina, aka Bleiburg has chosen a name that's heavy to bear, and perhaps it's not suprising that much of this music is quite dark. Oddly enough, the title Pieces of A Broken Dream comes from lyrics in an Erasure song. The two discs mainly consist of collaborations with other artists, and seven other tracks performed without any help.
It’s hard to pigeonhole this music, as there are different styles represented throughout these two discs. That may be partly due to the fact that the other artists are present. Aside from that, there seem to be at least two distinct styles that Bleiburg seems to favor; eastern-European neo folk and industrial ambient music.
The first disc focuses mainly on a fairly tranquil neo-folk style for the most part, and unfortunately it’s not that exciting. There are some ambient overtones which make the music a bit more interesting at times, but most of the songs don’t feel fully developed, and come off as half-baked.
The tracks without collaborators are actually the best ones on the first disk, most notably the last track, Notwende 2004, an eerie track which sends chills up your spine.
The second disc is much better. Not every track works, but most are pretty good, or at the very least interesting. The music is heavier, more ambient and industrial than the first. Though the first three songs are a bit plodding and heavy handed, the remainder of the disc includes some interesting highlights.
Aube guests on the fifteen minute long Soshite Sorekara, which starts off as an interesting speaker-panning drone, completely stops, then finishes with some weird vocal manipulations. It’s a bit of a departure from Aube’s single tone pieces, and it sends a spark which seems to energize the rest of the album.
Iza Kullisa, with guest Nocturne has elements of drone as well, and is actually quite scary. Cellar of Rats’ contribution the Days of the Storm is cinematic in scope. The former uses horn crescendos, strings and, unless I’m mistaken, gunfire, to striking effect, creating a soundtrack to an imaginary film.
Compilations can be a tricky proposition at times, veering from the good to the bad, and Pieces of a Broken Dream is a case in point. About half of this album is good enough to recommend it, and since it’s selling for the price of a single CD, maybe that’s reason enough to pick it up.