SON

While the Ukraine is no stranger to progressive rock with many great bands making a splash in the 21st century (think Karfagen, Sunchild, Modern-Rock Ensemble, A Noend Of Mine), almost all of the modern bands from that nation have opted to appeal to an international audience and released their music with lyrics and song titles exclusively in the English language but for every general trend there is always an exception and that's where this Kiev based band comes in. Обійми Дощу (Obiymy Doschu) means "Embrace Of The Rain" and since its inception all the way back in 2004 has released its mere two albums in the Ukrainian language which isn't something that is common considering the more popular Russian still being spoken in many areas of Ukraine.

What began as the one-man project of Volodymyr Agafonkin has resulted in one of the most ambitious undertakings for a progressive rock album in quite some time. While the band project's debut "Елегія" (Elegy) debuted Agafonkin's affinity for mixing melancholic neofolk and chamber folk with progressive rock and touches of metal, the band was limited to only eight musicians that tackled the usual instrumentation of guitar, bass, drums, keyboards along with violin, viola and recorder. As if that wasn't ambitious enough, Agafonkin went for broke when it came to a sophomore followup which took 8 years to record in 7 different studios and 200 hours of recording time. The result was the 72 minut "Сон" (pronounced "sone" as in rhymes with "bone" and is Ukrainian for "dream") which featured a whopping 15 musicians, 10 sound engineers including a string quartet.

Once again, Обійми Дощу (Obiymy Doschu) crafted an album that featured lush complex composiitons set to the poetic prose of the Ukrainian language, a daring feat that while alienating on one hand to the world's majority of non-Ukrainian speakers, also allowed the band to stand out from the never-ending Euro-worshippers of classic prog from the usual suspects. The result is an interestingly designed intricate album of in many ways seems to be taken to higher levels due to the involvement of Pineapple Thief leader Bruce Surdu who collaborated with the band to bring "Сон" into the production-rich arenas where bands like Riverside, Porcupine Tree and fellow Ukrainians Karfagen reside. While unbeknownst to most non-Ukrainian speakers, the album features a loose concept of a story of a man who faces the difficulties of the modern urban and globalized world and how waking up from the illusion will provide a beacon of light to navigate in the modern jungles of life.

"Сон" is one of those no costs spared works with a passionate delivery of beautiful lush tracks with production tricks reserved only for the bigwigs of the rock world and in many ways the Ukraine's answer to bands such as Porcupine Tree and Riverside as the compositional style relies on sprawling post-rock infused tracks that feature recurring melodic hooks accompanied by symphonic and chamber rock counterpoints that deliver a larger than life quality. Agafonkin delivers some of those emotive tugs of vocal performance that while getting the job done seem to reside in a limited range that for myself is one of the biggest disappointments of this project in that those very lyrics seem to stilt the expressiveness that the music demands. As a clear progenitor of the Porcupine Tree model, this band unfortunately just doesn't have the pop hook chops to really draw me in so that i can ignore the individual elements that make up the album's content.

While "Сон" is by no means a bad album, at the same time i just find it unsatisfying as the standard formula is pretty much set for the entire 72 minutes of playing time with little deviation. When compared with a brilliant album by Porcupine Tree for example, what's really lacking here is excellent compositions that draw you back time and time again at least that is so for me personally. For those who love those albums that rely predominantly on production and the accoutrements of symphonic backing, this one is obviously one you should not miss but at the same time if you strip down the song to their basic chord progressions and inner workings, i just don't find this album interesting enough to warrant much high praise. In short, this is an album i really want to like more but it doesn't quite scratch that itch. Oh well.

3.5 rounded down