Vallis Lupi is pleased to welcome Fairy Tale band to distribute its albums and the one of its side project Babokalyps.
Since 2005, around Slovakian musician, composer and producer Peter Kravec, six albums have been released in studio or live. These albums are now available in France through the label, in their webshop and Bandcamp page.
Fairy Tale distills some Art Rock music with many influences coming from Rock, Ambient, Electronic Music, World Music or Progressive Rock.
With Peter Kravec, one can find in particular drummer Ľubomír Pavelka and singer Barbora Koláriková who bring altogether to Fairy Tale music unique colors and sound.
Fairy Tale is the artistic child of Slovak musician, composer and producer Peter Kravec, who defined the name as early as 1994 while studying philosophy at university.
During the evenings in the student residence, he was not content to be bored reading Heidegger. Thus, between 1995 and 1998, he also concocted three official demo cassettes recorded on a Foxtex 4-track tape recorder.
Then, for several years, Peter worked as a musical dramaturge and program director on several FM radio stations. In 2003 he became the manager of the group Chill on the Sun, and it was there that he met the very talented Barbora Koláriková, the singer of this Pop Rock group. Barbora was enthusiastic about Peter ‘s musical ideas, and so with the help of other guest musicians they brought the name Fairy Tale back to life.
Sound Mirrors, Dream and Land of Love
The result was the debut EP, “Sound Mirrors” (digipack CD, 2005) which was described as an unusual blend of Rock, Ambient, Electronica and World Music.
Three years later, they recorded another album, “Dream” (CD digipack, 2008), released under the Hev-Het Tune label. “Dream” is an interesting mix of melancholy lyrics with Ambient, Pop elements, and a more obvious inclination towards an Art Rock/Prog Rock sound. The album received very good reviews, both in Slovakia and abroad.
The third studio album, “Loveland” (CD digipack, 2011), is again a rather ambitious album which received very positive reviews. “Loveland” indeed offers a colorful sound mosaic between Rock/Metal guitars and fragile lyrics on nice Pop ballads. However, the band aren’t shy about experimenting with sounds and effects, which leads to a great connection between the instrumentalists and Barbora‘s unique voice.
The Babokalyps Parenthesis
Fairy Tale albums always sound original and are always very well produced. This is due to the years of experience of a Peter Kravec who also owns his own professional recording studio.
In the years that followed, Fairy Tale went on a long hiatus during which the side project Babokalyps was born . Her first album, “Veľký Voz” (CD digipack, 2017), has a different, more Acoustic sound, also thanks to the contribution of pianist and singer Lucia Petáková . The other difference comes from the lyrics which are sung in Slovak, but we nevertheless really recognize the typical writing of their author.
The album of Babokalyps is very important for its creators, like a glass of pure water which allowed them to clarify their ideas and to have an appetite for a more Prog Rock sound.
Between Art Rock and Progressive Rock
The result was “That Is the Question” (CD digipack, 2021), Fairy Tale‘s most Progressive album, featuring artwork by the “one and only” graphic designer Hugh Syme (Rush, Saga, Dream Theater, Gowan…) and the specific mastering of sound engineer Simon Heyworth (Mike Oldfield, King Crimson, Simple Minds, Marillion …). An important album that surprised more than one in every sense of the word.
As of today, the final act in the Fairy Tale discography is called “Live Session in Studio, Bypass 1” (CD digisleeve, 2023). This EP is the first of the Bypass Series , conceived as the concept of spontaneous realizations of rare materials, outside the traditional context of Fairy Tale ‘s recording studio. The idea came about while preparing for a video session at the studio, when the band was going to do some takes for a music video for the song “Wake Up.” But in the end, the musicians decided to record everything live all in the same room around the drums… A direct and raw approach, but also very lively and unique.
It was in the summer of 2023 that Peter Kravec partnered with the Vallis Lupi Productions label for a distribution of all Fairy Tale and Babokalyps albums … while waiting for news of a next album…
