A Closer Listen
News on the war in Ukraine has greatly accelerated. A new president was elected in the U.S., pledging a swift end to the war; but many fear his allegiances lie with russia. The sitting president approved the use of long-range, U.S.-made missiles for Ukraine, and russia countered with a warning about World War III and a long-range missile demonstration of their own. Into this backdrop arrives Ukrainian Field Notes Volume II, an eBook and compilation from Gianmarco Del Re, who continues to write his ongoing series of interviews for A Closer Listen and Resonance FM.
“When I first initiated Ukrainian Field Notes,” writes Del Re, “I had a sense I was going to be in it for the long haul.” Del Re’s real-time reports are packed with historical significance; few others have ever recorded such reactions from the onset. As the nation has changed, so have its inhabitants and its art. The 35 tracks on UFN II were all composed after 24 February 2022, while all proceeds go to Musicians Benefit Ukraine.
While most of the compilation is electronic, the opening piece comes from Alexander Stratonov, who has written numerous scores for Ukrainian films documenting the atrocities of war. “Threads of Ember” is a perfect beginning, suffused with melancholy, an admission that already there can be no winners in this war. Sprinkled throughout the set are other pieces that slow the pace and tug at the heart, whether ambient, dark ambient or even folk. But the set is owned by dark, beat-driven pieces, bordering on the industrial ~ no surprise given that genre’s apocalyptic lean. Alex Schultz‘ “Aphasia” tumbles out the gate with distortions of words, a parable of the inability to comprehend the current horror. Obrii‘s “The Fire Song” incorporates traditional song in a dramatic beat-laden framework, and becomes an instant highlight; the pealing church bells only increase the tension.
It’s encouraging to hear “Hydrogen,” a new track from Odesa’s hard techno producer Phite Noise. The nation, despite its difficulties, continues to dance. This is perhaps the most stunning facet of the modern Ukrainian music scene: a declaration of life in the midst of death. maxandruh‘s “3d April” delves into drum ‘n’ bass, an even faster tempo imitating the rapidly-beating hearts of the populace. In “Cyber Thoughts,” Septim pushes industrial sounds to the fore, judiciously holding back the beats until the center of the piece. Is this the landscape of future music?
The album’s most unusual piece by far is “Sator,” from proMissDye. The track begins with a voiceover about “the dead place between the stars,” followed by dueling definition of the word “cells.” A heavy dance beat leads to air raid sirens and then, out of nowhere, “Carol of the Bells” countered by violent yells and drumbeats like gun shots. After hearing this and the artist’s terrifying collage “wArTrack” from June 2022, we’re looking forward to a full album.
But the album’s prize goes to Del Re himself, who demonstrated his commitment by traveling to Ukraine this year to meet many of the artists he had interviewed in person. The concluding “UFN” is a soundscape of field recordings amassed on his journey. Giamarco writes, “My track has field recordings from Lviv, Kyiv and Ivano-Frankvisk. There are snippets from a video piece by Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei (who are also interviewed in the book) and which was on show at the Pinchuk art centre in Kyiv. The folk singing instead comes from a goodbye party for someone who was being mobilised. There’s a bar on Spaska Street in Podil (Kyiv) where folk singers and musicians congregate. Also brief fragments from an audio installation from a sound art gallery in Lviv. The voice speaking French is from the composer Alla Zagayevich whom I interviewed in Kyiv. Church singing from Ivano-Frankvisk and Kyiv. Street music from street musicians (there are many mostly fundraising for the army as was the child singing). The closing piano line the last bars from a rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine which was being played again for fundraising by the glass bridge in Kyiv.” These are the sounds of the real Ukraine, the Ukraine eternal, not the Ukraine of war but the Ukraine of life, love and vibrancy. The dance tracks inspire us and the ambient tracks soothe us, but the voices and songs of the Ukrainian people remind of an essential culture, worth fighting for and worth preserving. (Richard Allen)
Mon Nov 25 00:01:29 GMT 2024