Driving Force is the first single from the new concept album Counterclockwise from Ivan Mihaljevic & Side Effects. After a great reception of their previous album Destination Unknown which got a lot of great reviews and made it into several top 10 albums of the year lists of 2011, the guys are back with new songs and a great new sound.
Check out this extract from the press release below to find out more about Counterclockwise.
Counterclockwise is a concept album which comments on the current state of mind and consciousness of our society and the world. It talks about many situations and feelings people might encounter through their lives. It talks about despondency, about people who disappoint you in ways you’d never expect from them, about dealing with a death of a close friend, about greed and about severe depression, but it also shows the light at the end of the tunnel.
Driving Force is a song about human tendency to be dissatisfied with their current situation regardless of how good or bad it might be. It encourages you to follow your dreams because otherwise you might end up as “a man who neither got what he liked, nor quite grown to like what he got”.
The album sound focuses on the band as a trio and makes you feel like the band is playing in your living room in front of you. As with their previous 2 albums, the engineering, apart from mastering, on Counterclockwise was handled by Ivan himself who has engineered albums and singles for many other bands too. The mastering was done by a Grammy award-winning mastering engineer Brad Blackwood (Maroon 5, ZZ Top, Black Eyed Peas, Evanescence…).
The guys decided to fight against the “loudness war”, which has been destroying dynamics in rock and pop music for the past 2 decades, and go with a more natural sound. So, crank up your speakers louder and enjoy!
Ivan has already built a reputation as a technically gifted guitar player however what really makes him stand out from the crowd is his song writing talents and voice which has reached a new level on the new material. ‘Driving Force’ is a stunning first single and shows how much he and his band side effects have grown as musicians.
The track has a perfect blend of strong melodies with a progressive edge that gives the song an enormous amount of depth. If this single is anything to go by then the new record is going to be unmissable.
If you want to find out more about Ivan then check out his website below.
www.ivanmihaljevic.com
