The first thing you notice — okay, the first thing I noticed, but I suspect you’re the same — about this are Saienko’s vocals. She is Ukrainian and is singing in (I learn) the white voice, a folk music style which is open-throated and rich and resonant and really very striking: you can feel passion bursting from every note. This is apparently a traditional style which gained popularity during the Soviet era as a form of folk resistance when the authorities would have preferred the plain people of the provinces to be limiting themselves to something more pastoral and placid and straightforwardly uplifting.
Fans of medieval nun–mystic–polymaths will, I’m guessing, recognize the song as Hildegard of Bingen’s O Ignee Spiritus, which translates to something like Oh Fiery Spirit. (Cyrillic readers will surely recognize the album title as Hildegard.)
At first, the modular synth of her compatriot Heinali (aka Oleh Shpudeiko) is just a quiet monotonic drone, not unlike a hurdy-gurdy or similar period instrument. That builds, and new layers of twiddly bits come in, incorporating elements of Hildegard’s polyphony. This is also rich and resonant and passionate.
On the flip is O Tu Suavissima Virga (Oh Thou Sweetest Branch). This one starts out in a more restrained fashion, with Saienko singing almost sotto voce. She expands very gradually, proceeding through a phase which is more intentional yet still delicate and rather beautiful, until about twelve minutes in she really kicks into top gear: this controlled build is both technically impressive and very effective. And on this one it’s about fifteen minutes into its twenty-minute running time before Heinali lets rip with a synthy swell. And what a lovely vworgy swell it is.
This is an inventive and awesomely striking piece of work. It is hard not to see it as a statement of defiance, and it is an intensely stirring one. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I bought this from Boomkat. They call it Electronic.
dogrando writes about some records 