We went ashore: our stars are singing WWII songs, Sparks are going wild
Khabib sang about a swarthy Moldovan woman, Miley Cyrus made a movie, and Leonid Agutin became a Stirlitz. Among the musical novelties of May (both already released and still being prepared for publication), there are releases for every taste, and there are plenty of big names among the authors of fresh recordings. Well, the main theme, at least in the Russian-speaking industry, was expected to be the Victory anniversary, to which a wide variety of artists and labels responded. Izvestia collected the best works.
Victory Music
The 80th anniversary of the Victory could not but be celebrated with a large collection of songs from the Great Patriotic War performed by modern stars. Something similar had been done before, and repeatedly, but by the anniversary date, they managed to assemble perhaps the most representative cast of artists ranging from Nikolai Rastorguev and Oleg Gazmanov to the idols of the buzzers Khabib and Klava Koki.
However, there is a danger in this variety of names: how organically will the great and pained lines "In the dugout" sung by MIA BOYKA, who is associated with the hits "Pikachu" and "Black Lada" sound? Is it possible to take seriously the "Darkie" from the mouth of the author of "Malinka Berries" Habib (by the way, the arrangement clearly suggests this parallel)? On the other hand, who better than them to arouse interest in the repertoire of the past era among the current 20-year-olds?
Yes, sometimes people from Tiktok teeter on the edge of good taste — for example, when in Katusha, Klava Coca gets carried away with self-expression and loses that wise simplicity that is characteristic, perhaps, of all great military songs. Although there are pleasant surprises: SHAMAN, performing "Dark Night" to the stingy accompaniment of an acoustic guitar, does not demonstrate his vocal abilities at all, singing the number from beginning to end in a low voice. Nevertheless, the old guard in the person of Rastorguev and Gazmanov is out of competition. As they say, see for yourself.
Leonid Agutin — "A Song about a Distant Homeland"
And another May cover, dedicated to Victory Day, but no longer from a group project, but an independent one — "Song of a Distant Homeland", sung by Leonid Agutin. It is clear that this is not a repertoire of the war years, and the melancholic mood of Mikaela Tariverdiyev's great melody sets a different perspective — we have a look at the events of the Great Patriotic War already from the 1970s, when "Seventeen Moments of Spring" were filmed. But here's what's interesting: performing the same number in 1997 for the project "Old Songs about the Main Thing-3", Agutin emphasized lyrical, romantic content (this was facilitated by a video featuring Angelica Varum, who was not Leonid's wife at that time). Now, the patriotic and nostalgic content shines through in the song, and it's not at all about the arrangement, where a trumpet solo, piano, and then orchestral accompaniment are added.
Agutin's voice itself has become different — more full-bodied, perhaps. The charismatic bluesy hoarseness has also gone, replaced by purity (literally and figuratively) and soulfulness. No, it remains recognizable. But those who still perceive Agutin as a "barefoot boy" will now look at him with different eyes.
ARIELLE Vocal Ensemble — Gabriel Popov: Symphony No. 4 "Glory to the Fatherland"
A real rarity was recently released by the Melodiya company. The fourth Symphony by the Soviet composer Gavriil Popov was found after his death and was performed for the first time only in 2023. Now there is also a studio recording.
Music lovers associate Popov's name primarily with the avant-garde of the 1920s: The Septet, composed by him in 1927, at the age of 23, remains the author's most famous and repertoire work to this day. Well, the rest of the audience is much closer to the film music of Gabriel Nikolaevich: "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" by Alexander Ptushko, "The Great Turning Point" by Friedrich Ermler — these are just two high-profile names from Popov's filmography. Let's add to this Sergei Eisenstein's Bezhin Meadow, which was not released on screens and was destroyed in 1937. It would be useful to recall that the first musician and co—author of the main cinematic genius was not Sergei Prokofiev at all, but Gavriil Popov.
Alas, the ban on "Bezhina Luga" was not the only trauma in Popov's life. In 1948, he was declared a formalist, and the Fourth Symphony, composed in the same year, remained on the table. Today it seems doubly strange, because the music here is not avant—garde, the patriotic poems of Ilya Selvinsky are ideologically sustained. But the genre itself is innovative. This is a composition for an a cappella choir, that is, without instrumental accompaniment. And with all the traditional harmony and melody (however, not without surprises), the cycle still sounds modern today.
Miley Cyrus — Something Beautiful
The most anticipated foreign release of the month is Miley Cyrus' new record, which will also be complemented by a feature film. After last year's triumph, when the single Flowers brought the singer the long-awaited Grammy Award, Cyrus decided not to slow down, but to shift the emphasis. No one doubts that she can create hits (in principle, it was clear a long time ago — even after Wrecking Ball, but for some reason she was not taken seriously by the US music establishment for a long time). But what about something conceptual and large-scale? In the new record, immodestly titled "Something Beautiful," Miley is inspired by nothing less than Pink Floyd's The Wall and promises that it will be a story "about healing from trauma and finding beauty in the darkest moments of life."
Whether it turned out convincingly or not, we will find out only on May 30. In the meantime, it's not clear from the released singles and music videos. The visual sequence of End Of The World, More To Lose, and the title track Something Beautiful is very simple: an artist in burlesque outfits just sings on stage, there is no sign of any action. The songs, however, are cute, although not hit songs, and the emphasized old-fashioned arrangements only add to their charm.
Sparks — Mad!
Ron Mail, the eldest member of the pop duo Sparks, will turn 80 this year, and his co-author and younger brother Russell is now 76. But they don't intend to slow down, and the Emails seem to have even more imagination, eccentricity and drive. Two years ago, they released the album The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte (Izvestia talked about it), and now a new record with a revealing title is on the line: "Mad!". Yes, the Emails are definitely not ready to become boring philistines. However, if this is madness, it is strictly controlled.
Sparks' music is written clearly with a cool head and a sober mind. Emails carefully preserve all the signature features of their style, so you shouldn't expect any surprises. Synth-pop synth accompaniment, naive and at the same time eccentric motifs, which reek of the early 1970s, the era when Sparks appeared. Perhaps we can say that the duo is "mothballed." But is it a bad thing? Everyone can decide for themselves on May 23rd.
It should be noted that two of the four published singles received full—fledged cinematic clips - it is clear that the musicians do not skimp on the video sequence, even if with their status and in modern realities this is more of a whim than an effective commercial move. But the fact is that you really need to look at Emails, not just listen to them.
Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke — Tall Tales
If you thought that The Smile's songs — Radiohead's reincarnations — were too extravagant and unusual, with his new album Thom Yorke proves that this is still very traditional music, and he saved the real experiments for solo work.
Tall Tales was recorded by him without the participation of Johnny Greenwood and the permanent producer of "radiohead" Nigel Godrich, but together with electronic engineer Mark Pritchard, who determined the general character of the music. There is no rock here at all, even in such a specific version as The Smile and the late Radiohead, but there is ambient (evaluate the composition of Ice Shelf), retro synthesizers (The Spirit) and a scattering of all sorts of avant-garde techniques, sometimes distorting Tom's voice beyond recognition.
It is reported that work on the record began back in 2020, during the pandemic. York asked Pritchard to send him instrumental demos, chose the best ones, and began composing poetry. In the five years that the material was maturing, The Smile band managed to appear and release as many as three albums, so it's not surprising that York couldn't finish this case. But now we can appreciate him in a different guise and make sure that even the wildest music, complemented by York's sublime falsetto, acquires expressiveness and metaphysical spirituality.
Izvestia Playlist
We decided to make our playlist themed this time and collect several cover versions of songs on the theme of the Great Patriotic War. Among them are those mentioned in the review, but not only. Pay attention to the unexpected interpretation of "Dark Night" made by the Na-Na group (that's certainly not the group that is associated with such a repertoire), the jazz version of "Random Waltz" performed by Oleg Akkuratov (this is the only record from last year's playlist — let there be an exception to the rule), but in At the end is a track symbolizing the continuity of traditions: "Victory", performed by the Alexandrov Ensemble, still sounds the same today as in the old days. Some things must remain the same.
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