Gentleman is the first studio album by the Belarusian indie rock and power-pop band Hair Peace Salon, released on March 21, 2012. The CD contains 10 tracks recorded in the period 2009âÂÂ2012. All songs were written by Aleh Vial and Konstantin Karman.
In late 2009, during the video presentation of âÂÂIn Tuneâ on Experty.by, it was announced that the band began work on a new album after perturbations in the line-up. In the spring of 2010 in an interview to the Chinese magazine , members of the band explained their approach to the thorough work, âÂÂUntil recently, we just have not considered that it is necessary to record a full-length album, but now we are working hard in this direction.âÂÂ
The first single from the upcoming album entitled âÂÂHappy for a Whileâ was released in the Chinese market first with a special cover for the region on April 5, 2010. In the homeland, the band decided to coincide the release of its new one with the Day of Cosmonautics, because, as musicians explained the choice of the date for Tuzin.fm, âÂÂthe age-old human desire for the new, for the conquest of uncharted spaces exactly combines our new songs.âÂÂ' âÂÂThe purpose of such trips is a long-awaited moment of happiness, after which we are going to move forward again to manage to catch more, yet there is less time left...â Ultra-Music wrote about it.
The single combined two new songs âÂÂHappy for a Whileâ and âÂÂOut of Time,â and it could be downloaded from the site of the band for free. The release marked the shift of the band from British rock melancholia towards power-pop, and, as singer-keyboardist Konstantin Karman announced via Experty.by in the spring, the entire album was going to be released the following fall. While working on new tracks, drummer Vladimir Agayan supposed that there were going to be invited and involved guest musicians, because the four of us âÂÂare not always able to implement all the ideas.âÂÂ
Songs from the singles, as well as the changed dress code of musicians, were presented on April, 10, at the âÂÂBroadwayâ club during the premiere show with the support of âÂÂDrum Ecstasy,â âÂÂÃÂðÃÂÃÂøþÿõÃÂ,â âÂÂThe Stampletons,â and other artists. Ultra-MusicâÂÂs correspondent Andrej Piatakoà  witnessed a new look of the band, called âÂÂthe pajama quartet,â as well as was one of the first ones who heard a fresh remix that would be put on the thematic EP in the fall. A fresh style and more frisky new songs were presented to the general public in June, as the guys performed at the musical show of Capital TV âÂÂCelebrity Ring.âÂÂ
The second single from the album âÂÂRolzâÂÂnâÂÂRulz,â which is themed around natural and contrived conventions that restrict or give people rights, was released on September 15, 2010. Experty.byâÂÂs reviewer Anton Sierankoà  heard more rock and roll motifs than the power-pop ones in the single and concluded, âÂÂThis is a very peppy, contagiously joyful song, with a clear melody and energetic guitars, made as simple as much with sincere enthusiasm.âÂÂ' Ej.byâÂÂs critic à ¹micier Padbiarezski, who came to the conclusion that Hair Peace Salon had very rethought the concept of rock and roll in the single, wrote, âÂÂâÂÂRolzâÂÂnâÂÂRulzâ is one of those songs, in which the band with such a complicated name quite convincingly demonstrates its ability to clearly organize musical material, and almost in the first place, vocals and present that properly.âÂÂ'
The release of the single was supported by the experimental EP âÂÂHPS Remixed,â which got 6 songs from the last two singles in trance, drum and bass, downtempo and other styles by a number of Minsk electronic scene DJs, who were involved in work as a result of a loss in the Bonobo contest. As musicians recalled to Kyky.org, listeners had studied the band page over at Last.fm, found scrobbled tags, and begun to write letters and ask about remixes. âÂÂI relished Hair Peace SalonâÂÂs guitars, so I went to experiment with broken rhythms. The result was a dynamic remix, which is very different in concept from the original,â DJ Rog, author of one of the remixes, said. âÂÂCooperation proved to be interesting,â Aleh Vial, leader of the band, said Tuzin.fm. âÂÂThe figurative vision of these people turned out to be very close to ours.âÂÂ'
Viktar Siamashka, host of the podcast âÂÂKrakatukâ on Radyjo Racyja, in his program expressed an opinion that the DJ versions turned out to be better than the originals.
In a press release in support of the single and the EP, the band noted to Experty.by that the work on the forthcoming debut album would be finished before winter 2010. The guys stuck in the studio without going outside in order to record an album. As members recognized on December 3, 2010, during an online-concert at the biggest Belarusian web portal TUT.BY, where they performed, among others, some songs from the past singles, important work on the digitalization of compositions in the recording studio forced them to heavily reduce the number of live performances.
During the online-broadcast, it was announced that 11 songs were planned to be included on a CD and the themes of the highborn, generosity, fortitude, desire for life with a bit of self-irony and oddities had to go through it like a common thread. The updated schedule of recording material for a disc over by the fall of 2011 was declared too, under which the work was being done for a year.
On March 18, 2012, the band made the official announcement of its full-length album in a short animated video. Musical works for the past three years were combined into the album âÂÂGentleman,â and this release began to be available on the official website of the band starting March 21, 2012, with a pay what you want option for fans. In a comment for Tuzin.fm on the albumâÂÂs release day, vocalist Konstantin Karman indicated, âÂÂThere are no song-fillers on the disc. The album turned out to be diverse, but it has an overall mood and is not protracted.âÂÂ'
Despite the pre-announcement, only 10 tracks made the final cut. The bandâÂÂs leader Aleh Vial explained this decision in a comment for Experty.by, âÂÂInitially, 11 songs were planned to be put on the album, after completing the recording and trying to create a harmonious track listing, it proved that one of them did not fit the general outline at all â it had to be removed.âÂÂ
The first concert in support of the album was held at the âÂÂçõÃÂôðÃÂþúâ club in Vitebsk on March, 31. The leaving of permanent drummer Vladimir Agayan much spoiled further touring plans. The musicians who left even played one of the rare gigs as the three of us. In these circumstances, a big show in support of the release was postponed until October 11, 2012. On this day the band made a presentation of its album âÂÂGentlemanâ at one of the most popular Minsk concert halls the âÂÂRE:PUBLICâ club. During the solo gig, musicians performed songs from the album, some of the old hits, sung a duo and a couple of cover versions of its songs in the Belarusian language, as well as officially presented its new drummer Alex Stepanovich to the public. Critics appreciated the great fall concert, which went home, without a special flair, âÂÂat the grade of B,â while Irena Katvitskaya, artistic director of the folk bands âÂÂAkana-NHS,â âÂÂKazalpin,â and others, highlighted via Budzma Belarusians! the elegance, finesse, and purity of the program performed by the gentlemen.
More additional concerts were given in support of the new albumâÂÂs material during the next half of the year. A semi-acoustic version of the program âÂÂGentlemanâ was specially prepared by musicians for Babruysk. âÂÂWe have done an acoustic program exclusively for concerts, the audience,â guitarist Aleh Vial explained for the European Radio for Belarus and added for Ultra-Music. âÂÂAnd yes, we ourselves are interested to play tracks that became a little boring performed electronically in a different way.âÂÂ' Minskers were able to listen to the album âÂÂGentlemanâ acoustically later on. Between these, there were given solo rock concerts. The Clover Club band became a partner on the concert in March 2013.
In the same month, the band played at the annual festival âÂÂAcoustic of Springâ for the third time. As musicians said, they were faced with necessity âÂÂto reach to small towns as compact as possible,â so they reworked their songs. In April 2013 Hair Peace Salon became the headliner at the presentation of the compilation album of local bands ëû in Slutsk. The May concert in Kyiv concluded the albumâÂÂs tour.
According to critics Maryja Kalieà Ânikava from the European Radio for Belarus and à ¹micier Padbiarezski from ej.by and Experty.by, album art deserves individual lines. Together with the completion of work on the musical side of the disk at the end of 2011, the band started to look for a âÂÂreal artist,â which would draw a cover. Thus, the front cover and the booklet of the CD were adorned by the drawings of Sergei Balenok, an artist from Belarus. Musicians of Hair Peace Salon were amazed at his etchings that they found in an art gallery. With the consent of the etcher, few works were bought and used for the design of the cover and other CD booklet pages, as well as for an animated video for the announcement of the album.
The album received mostly positive criticism. Tuzin.fm described the CD as follows âÂÂ10 good-quality tracks. Nothing more. âÂÂGentlemanâ is from a number of those albums of this year, which we can certainly be proud of.â In the review of the European Radio for Belarus, the record was called âÂÂgood, thorough, well thought out, and beautiful work. Well, separate respect for the design.â According to the columnist of the Budzma Belarusians! site Siarhei Budkin, âÂÂthey have got everything you need: great voices, quite good lyrics, keen sound, flawless execution, competent pitching.âÂ à ¹micier Padbiarezski, one of the expert staffers of the Experty.by portal, noticed that âÂÂthis band is just almost closer to the standard European tradition of combining rock instrumentation with enough pop melodics than all.â His colleague Aleh Klimay, who noted that âÂÂRolz'n'Rulz rulez,â liked greater energy and aggressiveness, as well as melodiousness. Another reviewer over at Experty.by à ¹micier Biezkaravajny praised âÂÂmelodic and melancholic songs, beautiful guitars, and Aleh VialâÂÂs recognizable high vocalsâ on the album. Maryja Kalieà Ânikava, freelance writer for the Experty.by project, called the album âÂÂa spring which does not hurt but caress during extensionâ and focused attention on âÂÂpolyphony, which sometimes compels to recall the Fab Four, gives airiness and a feeling of a large stroke to the sound,â and Siarhei Budkin considered that âÂÂit is nice to hear a solid, cherished album, where not one or two specific songs but all of the songs at once are set out.â Nasha NivaâÂÂs Juraà  Uskoà  summed up the assessment of domestic experts, âÂÂWe have been waiting for the debut album by Hair Peace Salon for a few years, the result did not disappoint: there is great Brit-rock, whose studio exemplification proved to be no worse than the concert one.â Russian journalist Aliaksandr Filimonaà  gave a positive assessment of the CD, âÂÂI am into all kinds of British and guitars with melancholy vocals and minor melodies, therefore I could not pass it by.âÂÂ
At the same time, reviewers noted the lack of brightness and originality, because the record was heard as a regular British wave album. In the opinion of ej.by and Experty.by columnist à ¹micier Padbiarezski, music from the album looks absurd against the cover based on the works of Sergei Balenok, who is âÂÂan original, paradoxical artist indeed.â The owner of the Experty.by music portal à ¹micier Biezkaravajny in his review wrote, âÂÂThe result proved to be a good quality album, which sounds too predictable.â Journalists rebuked for the kind of messy sound, so it is practically impossible to recognize the majority of the lyrics by ear, and some understatement in the songs.
In the review of the 2012 year by Tuzin.fm, the album was marked as âÂÂa very nice work, where individuality is felt.â Earlier on, the disc was already mentioned in the websiteâÂÂs article âÂÂTop 5 Belarusian music of this spring.â The CD shared places from sixth to ninth in the ranking of the ten best albums released in the first half of 2012, according to the Experty.by portal, was mentioned in the personal tops by Aliaksandr Filimonaà Â, editor over at Lenta.ru, Siarhei Budkin, editor over at Tuzin.fm, Maryja Kalieà Ânikava, editor over at the European Radio for Belarus, Aleh Klimay as a columnist for Sovetskaya Belorussiya â Belarus' Segodnya wrote about the disc in the article about the most worthy domestic albums for the first seven months of 2012 for adding to personal music libraries. The first track of the album âÂÂBorderlineâ was selected by the Lenta.ru portal in the top of the best modern Belarusian songs. Also for the album, the band got a nomination in the category of âÂÂDebut of the Yearâ at the first professional musical awards of Belarus in the field of rock, indie, and alternative music âÂÂRock Profi.âÂÂ
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