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Review CZ The Prague Post, 4.12.2010

Longital – Teraz

Slovakian electro-poppers Longital are bidding to further their attempts to spread what they like to call the “Slavic New Wave” with Teraz, their third studio album.

Formed back in 2001 as Dlhe Diely, the Bratislava duo of Daniel Salontay and Shina later changed their band title to make it easier for Anglophones to pronounce – apparently both names are derived from the same hill in the Slovak capital.

While both Slovak natives, the pair actually met in the US in 1997 when Daniel was studying jazz at Cleveland’s Tri-C College and Shina was a graphic designer with singing ambitions. They returned to Bratislava to form the band and set up their own indie record label, Slnko Records.

The group is fresh from a trio of dates in support of The Swell Season in Bratislava, Warsaw and Wroclaw, during which the Irish-Czech duo reportedly took quite a liking to the track A to je všetko / Is that all on the new record. Earlier this year, Longital also played a set at the influential South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

Longital’s music draws heavily from modern technology to enhance the pair’s guitar, bass and vocals. The resulting sound has an indie-jazz feel, at turns warming the atmosphere and drawing you into haunting soundscapes. Both capture the listener even without understanding the lyrics (although they are helpfully translated in the liner notes.)

The Velvet Violin reckons fans of exotic folk tunes may be drawn to Longital’s cosy sound, especially if they can dig music without understanding the words, something which is not necessarily a block on global success, as Icelanders Sigur Rós have proved.

Alternatively, check them out for yourself at the Prague launch party for Teraz at the Rock Café in Národní třída Dec. 8 at 8 p.m., tickets 190 Kč.

Longital – Teraz
Release: Oct. 22 2010
Purchase points: Available on digital download from major outlets, price $8.90. Physical distribution in the Czech Republic by Panther Distribution.

Posted by Bill Lehane on December 4, 2010

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