Bones in Butter
Bones in Butter is Milutin Krasevic, last man standing among a group of fellow musicians who shared a common vision to blend beautiful melodies and harmonies with the darkness and thoughtfulness of the Post-Punk era into a unique style.
Krasevic collaborated with fellow musicians, pursued various music projects and finally, after moving with wife and son to Belgrade, Serbia, decided to fully indulge his passion for music.
The result of this first creative adventure under the moniker Bones in Butter is the Love or Fear EP containing seven genre crossing songs and recorded with session musicians from Serbia, Italy and Brazil.
And so, before long, Krasevic had written a dozen new songs and was again looking out for the right people who would not only help him record these songs but who would also add their own ideas to the overall sound.
And as fate would have it, Krasevic soon stumbled upon a circle of highly talented artists from the Belgrade indie scene:
Luna Skopelja, vocals;
Todor Zivkovic, guitar;
Dejan Skopelja, bass;
Fedja Franklin, drums; and
Srdjan Popov, mix and master –
to form the final lineup and to find and shape the unique sound and vibe that define the music of Bones in Butter.
Never Without You
"So Alone" war mein erster Kontakt, der Nachfolger "This is not what you promosed us" war ebenso überzeugend und vergangenen Freitag war es dann soweit, Bones in Butter brachten mit "Never without you" ihren nächsten Release auf den Markt. Gespannt habe ich auf "Play" gedrückt und wurde sogleich überrascht, überrascht von erstaunlich weichen Tönen.
Was musikalisch mit "This is not what you promosed us" bereits ein wenig angedeutet wurde, wird hier eindrucksvoll fortgesetzt. Ein Liebeslied, Hingabe, Loyalität, Abhängigkeit und die Magie der Liebe als großes Thema. Der Einstieg ist von Harmonie geprägt, beinahe beruhigend wirkt die Stimme von Milutin, fast scheint es, als ob er dort angekommen ist, wo er immer hin wollte.
Dem Post-Punk und New Wave entflohen machen sich Bones in Butter auf, die Welt der Liebe, Sentimentalität und Melancholie zu entdecken, hinterlassen dabei aber gekonnt ihren Fingerabdruck. Das Gitarrensolo ist neben den Vocal-parts sicher ein weiterer Protagonist der dem Song Einzigartigkeit und Atmosphäre verleiht.
Mit "Never Without You" hinterlassen Bones in Butter, auf alle Fälle, einen sehr starken Eindruck gegen Ende des Jahres und setzen ihre musikalische Reise erfolgreich fort.
Q&A
Who or what inspired you to the song "Never without you"?
Todor:
For the guitars, i remember talking to Milutin about the band Magazine and John McGeoch and his way of choosing an unconventional path almost always instead of the most obvious.
I think Milutin and myself found a way to make the guitars unique on this song and while searching for the way to do that we learned a lot from each other in the process.
Some of the influences for the atmospheric guitars subconsciously are bands like King Crimson and War on Drugs. Also, John Frusciante solo albums are a great source of inspiration.
Milutin: I had written a couple of experimental and uptempo songs beforehand and thought it was time for a ballad. In addition, I had isolated myself for too long during my creative phase so I had to make it up to my wife. And what better way to do that than to write a song called “Never Without You” :)
The song provides a calm and dark atmosphere, compared to the previous releases it sounds softer as usual, is it one of your "many faces" concerning music?
Milutin:
I am actually a very sentimental and calm person so it is only obvious that I really enjoy writing calmer songs. Slow-paced music sort of matches the speed of my internal clock very well.
Calmer and slower songs also make room for melodies and harmonies to develop.
Then there is the fact that my band mates know how to blend extremely well into such spheres. So yes, a calm and dark atmosphere definitely is one of the more prominent faces of Bones in Butter.
Do you remember your first ever self written song?
Luna:
I think I was about 12, and I was really into pop music back then. I remember hearing the song “Umbrella” by Rihanna on the radio one day, and it totally got me hooked! I think that’s when I started making pop songs with english lyrics.
I think my first song was about a boy from my school that I liked, but I didn’t even know his name. I was really dorky and shy back then, and so were the lyrics to that song.
Milutin:
I had been writing poems/lyrics since I was 14 or 15 years old but I wrote and recorded my first real song at the age of 20. That was when I got my hands on a Tascam 4-track tape recorder.
The name of the song was “Maria” and it was about an imaginary girl that personifed my teen-angst and all my longings as a very young “adult”.
It was a very dark and morbid song. I remember this as if it were only yesterday and today I can only smile. It’s a shame I lost that recording.
You are from Belgrade, how would you describe the music scene there?
Luna:
There’s a lot going on in many alternative sub-genres, but we’ve been struggling with performances as there are still ever-changing regulations concerning the ongoing pandemic that are limiting us in that regard.
However, I think many creatives used this period to concentrate on making new stuff, so there’s a lot of new music going about, and the scene still feels alive in that sense.
Todor:
There are trends that come and go. From those trends always emerge some great songs and also some boring copy paste generic ones. That is just the nature of it. Right now the trends in alternative music are melanholic post rock, energetic garage riff rock, and Mac DeMarco type sweet indie rock mixed with 80s sounds etc.
The covid pandemic stopped the live music scene but didn’t stop people from recording good music. Who knows? Maybe when everything comes back to normal there will be some new explosion of enthusiasm from the public for live performance gatherings.
What was the first ever Pop/Rock/... song you listened to or remember on?
Luna:
That’s a really hard question for me, considering that I grew up with parents that were working musicians, so there was always something on when I was growing up. We had a huge shelf full of CDs, and I often took my diskman with me on trips.
I remember being like 8 or 9 when I played album “Discipline” from King Crimson during one of school trips, and that stayed one of my favorite albums to this day.
Todor:
My father was a musician and he always insisted on listening to Beatles records. I imagine that it was a beatles song.
Milutin:
Yeah, this a serious question as I was surrounded by music all the time. Even though my parents were not musicians, they loved music and made sure that the radio or turntable were always playing something.
But the first rock song I can vaguely remember was something by Suzi Quatro. Don’t ask me what song...
Christmas time is here again, how do you celebrate this time of the year, or do you say "No, not with me"?
Luna:
Most of us in Serbia celebrate orthodox Christmas that’s like a week after New Year’s Eve, and in my experience it’s usually a humble holiday that we spend with our families. It’s right in the middle between official New Year’s Eve and Serbian New Year, so I feel as that holiday is kind of resting point in between two biggest parties of the year.
Milutin:
Here in Serbia, Christmas isn’t such a big deal like in the West where it may often be associated with big sales, profit and consumerism and, thus, cause some parts of the society to say “No, not with me”.
Here it’s just another holiday that is, like Luna pointed out, sort of a resting point between two big parties: New Year’s Eve according to the Gregorian calendar and New Year’s Eve according to the Julian calendar. These two events are much more controversial.
What's traditional for a Serbian Christmas?
Luna:
I think that Christmas for us is time with our closest family members spent over a humble lunch. Nothing too grandiose compared to other holidays. We have a saying that the way you spend that day will follow you for the rest of the year.
My deceased grandma used to buy me new clothes as a good luck tribute, and would oppose any fighting that may occur that day. So yeah - humble is word that always comes to mind.
Few years ago, I discovered album titled “Čestit Božić” by Croatian diva Josipa Lisac that is a beautiful release consisted of Croatian versions of the most famous Christmas songs.
Even though it’s a Catholic church music, I consider that album to be a dearest little Christmas soundtrack of mine. Look it up, and you might enjoy it in this period as much as I do!
...and of course what’s next for you?
We will be busy promoting our album “Songs for A Sane Society” from which the single “Never Without You” was lifted.
Then, I will focus on some songs in Serbian for a change. There are lots of ideas waiting to be recorded.
NenesButler presents - Music Blog - Submit your Music
