Today, Balkan Express stops in Slovenia, to take a closer look at a duo that ever so often morphs into an actual band. It also presents this here show with an interesting dilemma. Namely, when does a band stop being a band and/or becomes another band. While maybe not holding the answer, AKA Neomi sure know how to pose the question.

Looking at it one way, AKA Neomi entered the Slovenian musical scene way back in 2007. Known simply as Neomi back then, band leader and lead vocalist Saša Vipotnik enlisted her cousins to produce a couple of songs she was working on. One thing led to another and four years later they released their first album.

But Neomi of 2007 are not the same band as AKA Neomi of 2024. The band went on a bit of hiatus in 2013 and underwent a period of fast-paced lineup changes that lasted until 2016. It was then when guitarist Mario Babojelić crossed paths with Saša, taking the band in a completely different direction.

AKA Neomi became known as such around 2019, when they started exploring venues outside Slovenia, precipitating a, well, branding conflict. To put it another way, their handle was already taken on various streaming services by another band. This coincided with their 2019 album, the first under the new band name, titled Beautiful Disasters, which fittingly included songs from the interim period.

Today, AKA Neomi identify as somewhere between indie pop and trip hop. Saša Vipotnik is usually the originator of the songs, fully in charge as the singer/songwriter. But Mario Babojelić is equally involved, seeing himself as something of a musical director, fleshing out the final cut from the initial rough draft. It is only then that the duo calls up the band, to do the actual recording.

As a result, their creative process is on the slow side. But what AKA Neomi may appear to lose in the production pace, they more than make up for with quality of their tracks. Each one of them tells a story from start to finish and there isn’t a filler song among them. For AKA Neomi, their music lives and breathes.

To date, AKA Neomi released two albums. Three, if you count their previous life. Their latest release is titled Lepo se svetiš v temi / You glow lovely in the dark. They are equally proficient in English and Slovenian lyrics and are here to tell you that it is all going to be OK.

And that's all the time we have for today. Check out AKA Neomi on YouTube, Spotify and wherever you get your music from, and Balkan Express will be back next week.