Splendid Isolation

Hungarian acid-jazz wunderkind Laszlo Fogarasi made an incredible noise with his first album Shallow And Profound. The discs flew off the shelves like hot cakes, and the press was ecstatic, not sparing epithets. All this laid a heavy burden on the shoulders of 19-year-old Laszlo. It took him 5 years to return. During this time, his fellow quintet members managed to create the group Zagar and tour Europe, while Laszlo matured and pondered the eternal. On the new album, hints remain from the cocktail jazz lightness that captivated everyone and the charm of dusty fifties records. If in the first half of the disc Fogarasi is still playing with his favorite downtempo (making it much more modern and heavy), then by the middle of the album, guitars and cold, yet confident vocals come into play. Laszlo's rock hits turn out remarkably well—he proved to be a good songwriter, and he has never been noted for unsuccessful arrangements. This music has a direct path to radio rotation—one remembers late Manic Street Preachers, Interpol, and sometimes even Depeche Mode. The medley of songs and cool instrumentals turned out to be strange, but this does not exhaust, but rather adds the color that is often lacking in purely song albums.