Muscovites SILENCE KIT don't do things by halves. Their eponymous debut was one of the most fascinating albums we reviewed during 2003 and this new three-tracker is once the again the sound of a band who make a mockery of terms like 'the sky's the limit' in terms of ambition.
Actually, when first confronted by "Pieonear", your reviewer assumed it was an EP. It's only got three tracks, after all. However, precious few EPs last 75 minutes, feature music of the scope contained within and gleefully rip up the rule book of acceptability the way these driven Russian boys do. Get acquainted with Silence Kit and you find time and space realigning to suit their grand designs.
So what's changed in the SK world since their debut album? Well, original drummer Gregoriy Alexanyan has departed, to be replaced by the equally talented Sergey Ledovski and cellist/ double bassist Yaroslav Kovalev has also come on board. Both acquisitions are clearly wise moves and both make their presence felt during the course of this slowburning epic.
The simple fact that "Pieonear" took almost a year to make gives you an idea of the dedication involved. But the end results suggest the sweat and toil was worth it. Opening track "Lemonsmellstreet" alone is breathtaking in scope. It kicks off with a jaunty piano intro before giving way to a more typical SK math-rock attack driven by Force 10 guitars and tornado-riding drumming from Ledovski. It's quite a statement of intent, but only an advance warning really. Silence Kit play with a neo-classical ambition and all these tracks work in terms of movements. "Lemonsmellstreet" continues on through squalls of white noise, light-fingered double bass from Kovalev and a brief vocal interlude from guest Helen Fitzpatrick ("we'll wait for the moment the sky finally collapses and falls down on our heads") before Kovalev's cello sweeps the main melodic motif along and the atmosphere recalls the likes of Can and Rest. Finally, they all lock horns and go for the burn , bringing an exhilarating Sonic Youth-style edge along the way, before the sonic avalanche finally dies away and the sound of what could be the Moscow metro leads us out.
"Pieonear" is unrelenting. Second track "Psychoparasite" sweeps in as the FX die away and this one even usurps "Lemonsmellstreet" in terms of single-minded ambition. At over 35 minutes in length, this is massive, tense and organic music stopping at stations marked 'all out Math-rock attack', 'brooding electronica' and 'crushing heaviosity' before it reaches the first of its' destinations. Initially, your reviwer thought it had run its' course when it hits a thunderous maelstrom of white noise midstream, but of course it rises again, with lonely, ringing guitar courting the rhythmic cello and rising like the proverbial phoenix.
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Admittedly, the track's final, amorphous phase of shifting ambience may sort the wheat from the chaff, but its' brooding, post-Tangerine Dream moodscape has a looming presence and finally allows a lonely guitar to transmit back from a distant star. Staggering stuff and then some.
After this, final track "Lemon Smell Street" (no it's a separate entity, not a reprise of the opening tune - keep up at the back!) seems a rather cushy and brief 20 minutes, though it again surprises by belching into life via a sludgy, Melvins-style intro with feedback leaking out seemingly uncontrollably.
Then it stops. Whack! Only to come up for air with textural cello and Fyodor and Boris's guitars trading pretty chiming patterns. It develops into a terrible beauty like (I imagine) the wind across the Steppes and again grunges outwards only to finally build an incredible crescendo ending around Ledovski's militaristic pounding and the whole band's disciplined playing. The more you listen, the more you realise only the likes of Muse and Oceansize are attempting music of such gargantuan ambition in the western world at present. Even when it finally dies away, the band don't want to let go entirely, allowing a brief, folky reprise in before silence envelops the room at last.
Silence Kit, then, will not satisfy those who are after quick pop fixes. Theirs is not a disposable world in the way we are conditioned today and their grasp of space, time and wonder is something to behold in the calculating 21st Century. Whether they will 'make it' outside their native land is not really important, though it would be nice to think someone over here would have the guts to release their remarkable music on a wider scale. Whatever, it's available from the band's website (silencekit@mail.ru ) and if you like your post-rock ladled with melody and discipline then you know the way. Let's hope there's more where this comes from in due course, but let's not rush them either.
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