A Closer Listen
When Kaleidoscope, Igor Yalivec‘s initial compilation of experimental music from Ukraine, was released in 2019, it was an innocent, entry into a scene that many had not yet discovered. When Liberty was released in 2022, everything had changed. Two months earlier, russia had invaded Ukraine. Among the dead were musicians and people in the music industry. Others took up arms. Global citizens played Liberty as an entry point into a scene under fire. As Resistance is released in 2024, the conditions have shifted again. The battle still rages, highlighted by a surprise Ukrainian incursion into russia, but much of the world press is losing interest, while aid to Ukraine is threatened by fall elections. The musicians here have all chosen to remain in Ukraine, and are making music under the most impossible of conditions.
The music is almost beside the point, secondary to the overall tone, represented by the title. Few expected this nation to show such resistance and resilience. As such, they have become an example of the spirit of freedom as opposed to that of tyranny. Yet as in all Ukrainian music of the current age, it is also a reminder that one cannot lose sight of what one is fighting for; the creation of art in times of war remains crucial. Drone is well-suited to represent melancholy, sorrow, and resolve at the same time, which lends Gamardah Fungus‘ title track the aura of an overture. Much has been lost; much still remains. Through the fog, someone still sings sweetly.
Fedir Tkachov follows the thread on “Floating Point,” its languid tone suggesting that recently, little progress has been made. In a way, the entire nation is floating, waiting to learn where it will land. It’s not until Yuriy Bulichev‘s “Field of Camomiles (feat. Ana Pasko)” that a little light breaks through, with bright synth and organ tones. To be a musician in Ukraine today, one cannot be too hopeful or too hopeless, a difficult tightrope to walk. The auditory distortion of Oleksii Podat‘s “Golden Hour” mirrors that of life, while “Tapering Time” and “Phantoms of Perception” deal with temporal distortion. In “Undone Man,” NFNR adds tempo and beats, although it’s not quite a club cut, as if to suggest that dancing continues, although the joy of dancing has been muted.
Will there be another compilation in 2025? One recalls the words of a related song: “if man is still alive, if woman can survive.” The war may tilt in either direction by then. One thing is for sure: Ukraine will continue to resist. (Richard Allen)
Wed Oct 23 00:01:54 GMT 2024