They crept up unnoticed: Kim Wilde comes closer, The Night Flight Orchestra demands The Moon

In the last month of winter, it's time for optimism and anticipation of spring. Rock'n'rollers from all over the world, from Sweden to Kazakhstan, are helping us with this. Izvestia — about the most interesting musical novelties of the past month that you might have missed.

The Night Flight Orchestra

Give Us the Moon

The Swedish octet of retro sound enthusiasts continues its exercises in the field of aviation romance — this is the seventh album. And, I must say, this time they probably surpassed themselves. Yes, all the associations and "reference points" familiar to fans — Foreigner, Journey, Saga, Boston, Bon Jovi — are in place, but now the "team of our youth" has managed to get so used to the image of the heroes of stadium rock that on the very first track you want to look at the calendar: what if the truth is in the yard again?"What?" For this, the Moon from the sky (which for some reason is required in the name of the disc) can be given away.

New guitarist Rasmus Ernborn masterfully plucks the strings, having clearly studied the recordings of both Neil Shawn from Boston and his predecessor in the band, David Andersson (who, alas, died in 2022). Actually, the composition of the "Orchestra of Night Flights" was and remains one of the biggest surprises of the group. The company of colleagues was gathered in 2022 by Bjorn Strid, the vocalist of the harsh child metallers Soilwork, and Charlie D'Angelo, the bassist of Arch Enemy (and before that Mercyful Fate), to relax, unwind, and recall the wonderful childhood years. Unexpectedly, the project turned out to be a success — even more so than the musicians' main jobs. It seems that the demand for loud, melodic, and most importantly, optimistic pop rock has not disappeared, despite the vagaries of fashion.

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Kim Wilde

Closer

However, the real heroes — that is, the heroines — of the 1980s did not doze off. Kim Wilde, one of the main sex symbols of the decade, has released a new album, continuing the line started in 1988 with the hit cd Close. Almost the entire Wilde family has gathered again to work on the first new CD in seven years, with the exception of his father, 85—year-old patriarch of the stage Marty (who once wrote all of his daughter's early hits). However, Kim herself, her younger brother Marty and her niece Scarlett, who joined them, worthily carry the family traditions — the songs turned out to be extremely memorable and "pop" in a good way, with tenacious melodies and "stadium" choruses.

If Kim's previous work, Here Come the Aliens, released in 2018, turned out to be too "fateful" in sound, Closer once again reminds the listener of the most successful years of her career, the second half of the 1980s. Dance rhythms, "wave" synthesizers and, as a cherry on the cake, the leader of the legendary synth—pop group Ultravox, Midge Yur, who sang a duet with Kim in the track Sorrow Replaced. As a result, it is a rare case when nostalgia does not turn into self-parody.

The Hellacopters

Overdriver

Swedes again, metalheads again, taking a break from the "extreme" at their main job. The drummer of the legendary death metal band Entombed, Nick Andersson, assembled his "garage" band more than 30 years ago - and has continued to work successfully on both fronts ever since. This is the ninth album of the "hellacopters" — and, perhaps, one of the best. Someone aptly described the band's style as "The Stooges pretending to be Aerosmith." In general, there is nothing to add to this accurate definition.

Blast beats, like in Entombed, are obviously unnecessary here, so Andersson is tearing at the guitar strings — and quite successfully (it should be noted that he is generally talented in everything, including designing covers for himself and colleagues, as well as producing). In general, of course, there are no surprises here — but there is raw energy bursting from the speakers and real, 999 rock and roll.

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Rasputniki

II

Kazakh popular music is not particularly well known here, except for the sweet—voiced Dimash Kudaibergen (however, he has long been an international star). However, our southern neighbors also have quite decent rock bands that can compete on equal terms with Russians and not only with them. For example, the so-called Rasputniki, who finally released their second album, are not without challenge. I had to wait for him for seven years.

The "Kings of the Alma Ata guitar underground", as their fans in their homeland call them, quite justify the high-profile title. The quartet from the city of apples masterfully owns instruments, writes catchy songs and combines a variety of styles without any problems — from grunge and stoner rock to dance rhythms and folk elements. Despite the "internationality" of their sound (Rasputniki would look and listen quite organically at any big modern rock festival), they successfully preserve their Kazakhstani identity, although they sing in Russian.

Solus Rex

"Unreleased"

Perhaps the main musical surprise of the beginning of the year is the release in Digital of the almost mythical only and never before officially released album of the equally legendary St. Petersburg band with the Nabokov name Solus Rex. The team, which gathered in the very early 1990s in the frozen Northern capital of the Perestroika era, played amazing, non-Soviet music, strikingly different from the farcical Russian rock of that time. A vocalist with a voice halfway from Janis Joplin to Elizabeth Fraser, a dense guitar sound in the spirit of The Stone Roses, then fashionable in Europe, and a rhythm section that anyone would envy... Alas, no one really needed these "company" songs in English, and after several years of performing in Solus Rex clubs, they quietly disbanded.

Today, their only studio recording, made in March 1991, was released by the Distancia label, specializing in the forgotten treasures of Russian rock music. I really hope that it will come to the release on physical media — I want to "put this music on the shelf", and my favorite.