EYOT - Real World Studios

Dejan Ilijić

EYOT
Dejan Ilijić – piano
Slađan Milenović – guitar
Miloš Vojvodić – drums
Marko Stojiljković – bass

11th November 2019
Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire, UK

Slađan Milenović

Balkan ambient jazz quartet EYOT were back in the studio last week to record a new album under the guidance of producer Jim Barr (Get The Blessing / Portishead). This will be their fifth album after the successes of Horizon (2010), Drifters (2013), Similarity (2014) and Innate (2017).

Miloš Vojvodić

Under the leadership of pianist and composer Dejan Ilijić (brother of the free spirited experimental artist and performer Alen Ilijić) EYOT spent two days at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios before heading to a secret studio location to add the final brushstrokes to their new work. They finished off their week with a live performance at The Exchange in Bristol alongside Get The Blessing. Review here on B24/7.

Marko Stojiljković

The Serbian band from Nis are no strangers to UK shores after appearing at the Jazz Cafe, Camden in 2014. Yet it was a curious welcome party for the globetrotting musicians as they navigated the FA Cup fans of local football Chippenham Town before reaching the safety of Real World Studios a few miles away in Box. The first tune to be recorded was Savanna or Savannah and what followed was an epic journey over two days through another six compositions. EYOT's music has always referenced nature, an expansive sound with wide horizons and knotted woods to catch the mind. As Jim Barr, Olli Jacobs (sound engineer) and myself heard the first notes of this album take root we looked out onto the rampant autumnal colours in the garden beyond.

Jim Barr

EYOT - Stone Upon Stone Festival, Nis, Serbia

Slađan Milenović - guitar

Despite there being one more day to come of the Stone Upon Stone festival in Nis, Serbia this night was the axis for many of the audience (17/04/2015). It was the turn of local heroes EYOT to make their appearance on stage. Alongside poet Dalibor Popović the organisation of the festival had rested in the hands of EYOT pianist Dejan Ilijic. Not only had they put their sweat and tears into this 4 day fiesta but the title of the festival originates from their 2010 tune 'Stone Upon Stone' from their 2010 album Horizon.

Marko Stojiljković - bass

It was a trademark EYOT performance that dwelt in warm, dark and sickly themes yet retains that uplifting riposte through pulse and musical battery. Every time you experience EYOT you come to them afresh, a blank canvas if you will. To use another empty metaphor, a sheet of virgin lino sat before us on this night. As they opened their set we cut into our impressionable minds with our sharpened lino tools, we gauged its flat surface with their ruts. The dark ink of EYOT's sound pooled into our grooves and after each song we were left with this black sticky residue. We were unable to let go of their themes, to make sense of every complexity, we struggled to quell our delirium tremens.

Dejan Ilijic - piano

Dejan Ilijic plays the simple fool in the EYOT line up but do not be deceived. While the heavy machinery of Marko Stojiljković (bass), Slađan Milenović (guitar) and Miloš Vojvodić (drums) slam into the molten steel he is the flash that spits and sparks. As the crucible runs dry we can still hear the crackles of the cooling metal as it passes through Dejan Ilijic's piano.

EYOT are more than weighty metals and stone shorn from deep quarry. There is also majesty that unravels in delicate terms, a finery of thread, a golden braid which isn't so much about construction as its slow regal decline. Although Stojiljković towers on stage it was Milenović's guitar which held court, his sound was strong and monumental.

Miloš Vojvodić - drums

It is easy to get lost in the EYOT repertoire, you feel that you tread a road with no sign and no name but it doesn't seem to matter. Often it is about the building swell of themes but once again Slađan Milenović gave us something else, a slow creep that stopped any daydream in its tracks. It was like turning your head at a very slow pace, while trying not to let your eyes scan ahead, to be in this moment. Just to be here.

AL.

Stone Upon Stone Exhibition, Nis, Serbia

Lepa Brena Apartments and Alen Ilijic

Most festivals and gig write-ups require a back seat attitude to allow their readers the prefered perspective. On this occasion it is impossible as the Stone Upon Stone festival in Nis kicked off its 4 days of fare with an exhibition of sketches and artwork from these very pages. This new festival on the European music calendar was founded by musician Dejan Ilijic and poet Dalibor Popović, and proved  a great success in an age where fresh new music and ideas aren't necessarily embraced by the wider public.

Alen Ilijic

You'll excuse my first hand experiences and revelations amongst this post as this was my first time on Serbian soil and I was wide-eyed with wonder as I rolled up before the Lepa Brena apartments in Nis on the 15th April. It was a lucky break, for I had been thrust straight into the hands of composer Alen Ilijic and his wife, Art curator Milica. There was a chance to immediately slide straight into the remnants of Tito's communist legacy, fascinating to find social 'towerblock' housing flourishing as children played in the courtyards and sounds of the city drifted into the high-rise's open window.

Milica Ilijic

Not all is rosy in the garden and Serbia sits under a cloud, many of the people suffer due to corrupt hands and the legacies of the war as Yugoslavia broke apart. It is the perfect location for positive minds that are fertile with ideas and fuelled by injustices to create a new festival such as this. The people I encountered along the way were generous to a fault, embracing a stranger such as I and taking them to their hearts. Kebabs and Rakija were aplenty and in the Ilijic's hands English was continually spoken and a kind or informative word was never far away.

Mauk - Dragan Miokovic

Although I'll be writing about the acts I sketched and experienced  over the coming days the Stone Upon Stone festival started with our Art Exhibition (14/04/2015). Housed in the splendour of the Hush-Hush lounge bar in the centre of Nis, this is a popular hideaway from the throng of the main city streets. On the walls were paintings of Daria Khulesh, Andre Canniere, Oren Marshall, Seb Rochford, Mihaly Borbely, Jake McMurchie, Pete Judge, Michael Janisch, Tom Mason, Vincent Payan, Dejan Ilijic, Jacqui Dankworth, George Crowley, Peter Lee, Steve Pringle, Larry Bartley, Ferg Ireland, Jim Barr, Benet Mclean, Thea Wilsher, Melissa James and many more. All were sketched live on the London Jazz scene and include drawings of the band EYOT who were captured in my sketchbook when they played at the Jazz Café in March 2014.

Bojan Randjelovic

The tiller of Hush Hush is held by legendary bon viveur Mauk or Dragan Miokovic in the house formerly owned by Bata Anastasijevic, who remains one of the greats in Serbian jazz. Mauk keeps the welcome warm and wet with a plentiful supply of Rakija, the waspish plum brandy. It was the perfect place to meet people and I got the lowdown on the Serbian creative scene from artist Jovana Mitic.

Vladimir Djordjevi

After a few fortifying brandies I gave an interview to Vladimir Djordjevi and Bojan Randjelovic who were making a documentary about the Stone Upon Stone festival. Nis was a hive of creative minds when you looked close enough and is a place worth visiting if you're prepared to scratch the surface. Randjelovic is a case in point, not only is he handy with a tripod but is also a member of infamous Nis punk outfit Novembar.



Dragan Videnovic

There were many faces to sketch within the 4 days, 3 nights and 6 bands
but one who immediately made an impression was journalist Dragan Videnovic from Zona Plus TV. His English was impeccable especially since taking a brief sojourn in London with the BBC and during my interview on Zona Plus there was depth and knowledge on both the wider international scene and the burgeoning music scene right under his nose.

Dalibor Popović

Nis is a difficult place to launch a new festival, especially one that skirts on the fringes of jazz as the famous Nisville festival has flourished here since 1981. There is an appetite though amongst younger listeners for a new sound, one that is epitomised by the Stone Upon Stone festival. Now that the hard work has been done by Dejan Ilijic and Dalibor Popović we are ready for the years ahead. It will be a force for creativity with new acts pushing through and established bands willing to trial new music for audiences ready to fly by the seat of their pants.

AL.

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.

EYOT - Gothic wonder & darkness

Dejan Ilijic - keys

The shortness of this review reflects just the 40 minutes afforded to us at the Jazz Café earlier this month (05/03/2014) to absorb the Serbian raiders EYOT.

Marko Stojiljkovic - bass

The dark stage was punctuated in pools of purple light and it suited this four piece who were spread wide in the crepuscular atmosphere. With just four tunes to pin both my sketches and impressions I will dispense with long annotations of the compositions themselves and start directly with EYOT's spokesman. The stubbled Dejan Ilijic was often stooped in the shadows as he hunched over his keyboard. His dark handsome aura was very much reflected in the music, which was as powerful as his ox like shoulders. His driving piano interposed with melodic loops created much of the levity in EYOT's performance. Those of us who occupied the front rows, and I stood next to legendary Jazz-face Steve Marchant, felt the bellyache vocal murmurs of Ilijic in our very guts. Without amplification these base rumbles created a background wave of humanity amongst the sea of electronica.

Sladjan Milenovic - guitar

There were large sections of the set that were dominated by the guitars of Sladjan Milenovic and Marko Stojiljkovic. These led to an air of cutting and rasping penetration. Despite his stature or maybe because of it Stojiljkovic played with head  bowed, it lifted and nodded repeatedly like one of the humorous dogs in the rear window of a car. In contrast Milos Vojvodic lifted his into the air, his long face rising above his drum kit as though savouring a sweet smell.

Milos Vojvodic - drums

The overall effect of EYOT was a balancing act between heavy looped motifs and playful melodies. There was a real force behind them, driving like a battering ram at times, it swept to and fro, with a rhythm that was reflected in their final tune's Balkan beat. It was modern medieval jazz, raw and uncut in the main with flashes of sophisticated beauty, like being transfixed by the hidden complexities of a gargoyle whilst standing in the shadow of a gothic cathedral. Wonder and darkness.

AL.