AS SMOKE IS DRIVEN AWAY

An epic 20 minutes instrumental track with classical influences which creates a dark ambient mood. This time the trio spin off of Roz Vitalis has two important guests: Andrey Stefinoff at Clarinets and Lyudmila Poletaeva on the Viola. I don't know much about them, but their work is excellent.

In a dark ambient situation, clarinet and viola are a perfect addition for setting the mood.

Percussion appear here and there and fit always well in the soundscape. Unusually, Rozmainsky's keyboards are just in the background, While the lead is alternatively taken by the other instruments.

Back to the classical influences, I think I hear a bit of Debussy mixed with a bit of Stravinskij, in particular in the section around minute 11, but I'm not familiar enough to classical music to be sure about my impressions.

There's also room for a real Avant section started by the bass which gives the abbrivium to the return of the repeated 11 to 13 notes of the main theme which are overplayed by the other instruments.

In the past I've often used the adjective "dreamy" in describing the music I was hearing. This is the case, too. The suite developes like a dream, with increasing dramaticity but without forgetting the principal themes in a way that gives consistency to the whole.

The clarinet solo backed by bells in the last two minutes of the suite has made me remnind of GonG's "Flute Salad". It hasn't the same humour, it's quite dark also, but technically speaking I see some similarities with the GonG of the FLying Teapot trilogy in this final part.

Unfortunately, it ends suddenly leaving the listener with a sense of suspension. Another 20 miutes long "side B" would have been appreciated.

It's a "Name Your Price" on Bandcamp. Give it a try

Good, good. My favourite is such mysterious dizzy elegance.

An over-20-minute suite "As Smoke Is Driven Away" released on April 20, 2023 features neo-classical agents and repetitive but transitional processes in a delicate manner, in addition to their mystical chamber rock as usual. This delicacy launched by them would mean fragile smoke modifying and vaporizing itself ... from the very beginning we get veiled deeply in soft smooth clarinet-oriented aroma. Their brilliant sound creativity is fascinating as well. It's also good that Lyudmila's viola playing is not only soft and gentle but also sharp and critical. Ivan's Kalimba produces a sublime atmosphere massively with comfortable instability. In the middle part uptempo percussion sounds induce credible ethnicity. The last run consists of slight anxious fancy and clear future hope and anticipation. Guess they might say that 'smoke' be something like anxiety under the tough situation nowadays. It sounds like the artists and the audience are trying to break the situation away and grab bright tomorrow together, at least for me.

Found another niche in the conventional avant-progressive scene.

Compassionizer have returned with a conscious experiment in long form progressive rock with their As Smoke Is Driven Away EP. For the first time they have recorded a sidelong suite, one consisting of an esoteric and evocative soundscape defined by the band's brilliant clarinets and meant to symbolize the Mystery of the victory of good over evil. The track develops in surprising fashions, yet remains tightly cohesive in its course. I found the synths across the suite to also be particularly resonant, especially in the final minutes of the piece. As usual, Compassionizer as a whole have delivered excellent performances with this EP, as has their guest viola player Lyudmila Poletaeva. As Smoke Is Driven Away leaves me hungry for more from the band and excited for the possibilities as they begin to release longer songs.

Compassionizer has recently presented a new album called As Smoke Is Driven Away. It consists of a single track giving its name to the whole album. As many of the compositions of this talanted team this piece of progressive rock can be called a meditation having a plot. And may be more than other works since the authors entitled their work as the Mystery of the Victory of Good over Evil which imposes not just a plot but a quite specific plot, may be the most ancient one. The team is detailed and inventive in depicting the both sides of this eternal battle. As always the album features a great team-work with an amazing contribution made by the guest Lyudmila Poletaeva as the Viola. A new amazing success of Ivan and his team.

"As Smoke is Driven Away" is an album with its roots in Indian meditations and branching out into ambient. The mini-album consists of one 20-minute long composition, alternately changing with various kinds of meditations, while maintaining a gloomy and intense coloring. An amazing interweaving of clarinet, synthesizers and recognizable keyboards by the leader of the project Ivan Rozmainsky, which have long become the hallmark of his bands. The general, rather uncharacteristic gloominess of the music is manifested here with might and main with its dark apocalyptic landscapes, replacing one passage after another. The entire viscous and dense sound palette is made at the highest level, which will not leave indifferent even those who are not ardent adherents of the genre. And for fans, this is another must have masterpiece for a collection, not to mention a clear and interesting cover. The music itself will tell the rest, since it is amazing.

Earlier this year Compassionizer returned with a single lengthy track, more than 20 minutes in length, which they released free of charge as an EP. It is the same core quartet as with the previous album, but this time we have a viola player as a guest in the form of Lyudmila Poletaeva. Again we are firmly in the world of modern classical combining with RIO, but there are also times when percussion provides a strong focal point. Although there are only five musicians this time around, both Ivan and Serghei are multi-instrumentalists who bring many different styles and textures to the arrangement. There is far more space within this recording, with the clarinets almost plaintive and calling at times, allowing the listener to be fully immersed in what is taking place.

This never feels like a collection of different songs cobbled together, which is sometimes the case with longer numbers, but instead always feel as if the music is following a logical progression even if the listener is unsure what that actually is. This is a thoroughly enjoyable piece of work and a wonderful introduction to the band and what they are trying to achieve, so given it is available free of charge why not jump over to Bandcamp and give them a listen for yourself?