On this Moscow based trio's third album, the leafy theme of the sleeve art references the title's nod to preserved nature. Yet on the cover photograph we see the eyes of partially hidden creature lurking in the undergrowth.
Seemingly, all may not as tranquil as it first appears.
The inclusion of a sample from the experimental noise collective Tooth Kink on the opening track gives a hint of a more extreme turn the band might easily have taken. The track in question is presumptuously entitled Overjoyed To hear The New Poostosh Album.
Although the remaining thirteen instrumentals maintain a distinctly esoteric mood they don't set out to be so overtly challenging or disorientating.
The "dream and embodiment direction" of track 2 (Life As We Forget It) is tailor made for lovers of chilled out ambient music. And having set this calming pastoral mood, the first half of the record glides along in much the same manner with a gentle blend of synthesised beats and 'real' instruments. The gorgeously melodic folktronic of Sasha is especially blissful.
But, just when you're sitting comfortably, a distorted electric guitar at the end of Leprechaun's Gang gives a sign that the band don't want you to get too relaxed.
The insistent beats of Birthright open up a more cinematic vista and finishes up an unexpected blast of an operatic tenor.
More incongruous still, and strategically placed at the mid-way point, we encounter Corneal Abrasion which, as the title suggests, is altogether harsher and unsettling.
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While the rough edges of this abstract piece proves to be a one-off, it serves the purpose of making you sit up and realise that this is not a band who are content play safe or to go through the motions.
Early hints of folksy themes reach fruition with "La Storia di un ragazzo che trovo' l'amore ma perse la testa" which features "cool busker's melodica and guitar" .
The synthesised keys of The Meadow of My Infancy could almost be the theme to some soppy 1970s TV show, while the lilting melodica returns on the splendidly titled Dreamers Who Are Brooder. The latter is the only track with percussion and its slowed down tango beats has similarities with The Gotan Project.
It all winds up with haunting piano-led finale of We'll Be Back.
The strength of this record lies in its unpredictability and repeated listens bring out the clever mix of the familiar and the strange. It show how randomness can be so much more interesting that a neatly ordered landscape.
Poostosh take you on a heterogeneous musical journey that explores well trodden paths but also takes you off the beaten tracks. You realise that the choice of band name, which translates as "uncultivated plot or heath", makes perfect sense.
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