Thursday 17 July 2014

EYOT & Marko Miladinović - Similarity album inspiration



Similarity, EYOT (album cover) - Marko Miladinović
 We continue our album inspiration posts with a visit to Nis, Serbia and the latest offering from EYOT. 'Similarity' is the 3rd opus from the Balkan foursome, Dejan Ilijic (Piano), Milos Vojvodic (Drums), Sladjan Milenovic (Guitar) and Marko Stojiljkovic (Bass) but this album has a distinct Bristolian weight to it. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jim Barr at J&J Studios, Bristol, UK in November 2013. It also features two more Get The Blessing personnel in the form of Jake McMurchie (saxophone) and Pete Judge (trumpet).

Marko Miladinović
The artist who created the cover artwork for 'Similarity' is Marko Miladinović, whose broad portfolio includes forays into photography, art and design. He currently works at the Centre for Culture and Arts in his hometown of Aleksinac, Serbia where he was born in 1981. He has won several awards for his painting and photography, with over 20 international exhibitions under his belt.


Marko Miladinović - sculpture
The 'Similarity' artwork is inspired by an album of delicacy, the music talks of airiness and gentle persuasion. It straddles the genres of Jazz, traditional Balkan musical and electronic earthiness that gives the listener the space to breathe and dream. There are paths and walkways to explore within each track like second tune 'Druids'. While the evocative imagery in opener 'How shall the dust storm start' is a fertile ground for an artist like Miladinović. It epitomises many of the tunes, which are a blank canvas of possibilities for the listener to explore. 'How shall the dust storm start' for me talks of a hot European town in mid siesta, crackling with energy despite not having a denizen in sight.

Marko Miladinović
The title track 'Similarity' has a delicious complexity which works against the rest of the album, its tread is urban, where the remaining album stretches into landscape dimensions. X-rays and microwaves fizzle as creeping night-crawlers wander the streets. If it was a figurative vision then Edward Hopper would have painted it, combining the alien and the familiar in that unnerving style of his.


EYOT - Horizon
Dejan Ilijic explains why he chose Marko Miladinović's artwork to represent EYOT's latest offering, "I like the colours, they "sound" like our music and there is a small similarity with first album cover, Horizon, you can see some kind of the Horizon on it, that means we are still sailing full steam ahead"



Marko Miladinović - Landscape
Miladinović's artwork compliments the album and it creates the spaces for which the mind can dwell. Like the music there is still work for us to do, what we bring to the picture is what we get out of it.

The biggest clue to understanding how Marko Miladinović's  brain works is in his photography of the landscape. He cuts and trims what could be bland views into compositional gems, and the textures he conjures from both the small and large scale are what makes both his work and the music of EYOT worth devoting time to.

The album will be released on 1st August 2014 by Ninety and Nine Records NY
 www.ninetyandninerecords.com and you can get your hands on a copy here - BUY Similarity   
 
Keep up to date with the latest EYOT gigs and news at www.eyotmusic.net

AL.

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