RUSH TO RELAX - Misli - LP

Three years after the eponymous debut album, Rush to Relax is back with a new full-length release that carries the DIY rock’n’roll project’s most diverse work to date. On his latest record, Damjan Manevski, a Macedonian based in Ljubljana, pushes further ahead and demonstrates his natural development as a musician and even more so as a songwriter in the spirit of the distinctively sincere Macedonian music tradition.

The new Rush to Relax album is driven by Damjan’s warm guitar sound which offers countless catchy melodies which neatly interact with each other. It is an approach that shares similarities with the Flying Nun bands from the 1980s or the contemporary Australian underground scene but its main roots lie in the ever-vibrant music scene of the Balkans.

Although many of the instruments on the record were played by Damjan himself, the overall sound owes a lot to the close collaboration between a number of musicians. Apart from the involvement of the remaining Rush to Relax live band members (Vasja Onič played the drums on most of the songs, Jan Cizej and Erik Kerpan recorded some guitar segments and took care of the album's recording process, while Jan fully took over the mixing process), the record has been enriched with some additional guests. For example, there’s the folk-inspired ‘Pesni vo meani’, where Damjan is joined by his father Zoran Manevski, or the heavy garage banger ‘Pravo uvo’ with Nejc Čulk on drums, synths and backing vocals.

Despite the optimistic and carefree impression left by many of the songs, the familiar Macedonian melancholia is still present throughout the record. It is not an album that tends to conquer the world, rather reach the hearts of those who may recognize themselves in Damjan’s expression, even though the songs are in his native Macedonian. This second album still has the warm home-recording feel that the debut album had, but now with a much-upgraded touch that brings Damjan’s distinctive delivery to a whole new level. The album was recorded in early 2022 at the band’s practice space, mixed in January-March 2022 and mastered in early April 2022.