PRESENCE

Another masterful release from the uber-talented avant-garde/neo chamber composer Olga Podgaiskaja. I am saddened to hear that Olga and her collaborators had to pout this album together as expats, having sought safer lands than their home in Belarus during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I wish them only the best--and am amazed that they can create such beautiful art under such duress.

1. "Presence" (4:26) a slow, beautiful piano-based chamber piece with saxophone that sounds very much like AltrOck Productions stablemate Francesco Zago/Empty Days' (originally Not a Good Sign's) "Coming Back Home" from 2013. (9.5/10)

2. "Drops of Silence Through the Silence (6:57) a piano-based chamber piece with only strings accompaniment. Gorgeous! (10/10)

3. "Feuchtwanger" (3:17) a more uptempo dynamically stimulating chamber piece with strings in the lead positions. Sounds eve more classical. (8.75/10)

4. "Not Winter" (4:02) is an insistently piano-propelled piece in which swells of strings and horns Reminds me of many bleak, challenging winter scenes from film and children's stories. (9/10)

5. "Silent Zone" (7:49) a slowly plodding piano- and bowed double bass-based piece with accordion and strings accompanying while flute holds the lead (with occasional simple piano breaks). Sounds like a contemplative dance. Soprano saxophone and viola get turns taking on the lead melody in later expositions. At 5:30 we get a very slow swell of all instrumental volumes during one of the exposition passages, between the constant piano and soft (even squealy) strings foundation. Brilliant! (13.25/15)

6. "Epitaph" (5:30) a rondo that immediately reminded me of one of my other favorite chamber prog bands, CICADA, from Taiwan. It also reminds me of foot traffic in a busy city street--one in which car traffic may take a back seat to that of pedestrian. Piano and three strings players perform this beautiful weave for the first 2:10, then Vitaly Appow's soprano sax joins and somehow the musical weave smooths and while at the same time flying forward with effortless ease and grande vitesse. (10/10)

7. "Nonna and Seven Pink Eyes" (7:05) dissonant and oddly timed solo viola notes open this one. Gentle woodwinds join in, offering comfort and peace as a grandmother would. Heart-wrenching. Accordion and organ make for more comforting support, though the organ almost makes it sound as if we've joined a funeral. Multiple strings and soprano saxophone interplay with the organ and each other in a kind of follow the leader weave. Very cool. What a beautiful, emotional, yet comforting story in the telling. (14.25/15)

An amazing album of mature and very human emotion, expressing so well the angst of our times. As much as I love the band's 2014 debut, Not That City (and 2017's Night en Face), this one may be better.

A/five stars; a true masterpiece of progressive music--my #2 Favorite Album of 2022. Thank you, Olga, for once again making me feel so proud to be a member of the human race--for reminding me of the great things our species is capable of doing/creating/expressing.

I voted this as my number 1 album in 2022. It is just strikingly beautiful. Now I've got to say that the appropriateness of the prog-*rock* label may be doubted, as this quite certainly isn't rock music but rather 100% instrumental classical chamber music. Still I think that this will appeal to many prog listeners because of the wonderful marriage between sophisticated composition, very accessible melodies and mostly slow rhythms (no drums or percussion here though). This is an emotional album after all, atmospheric, calm and occasionally sad. The transparent sound world reminds me of Steve Reich (particularly the use of strings) and other minimalists (Michael Nyman,...), but despite the meditative qualities there is more change and evolution in these tracks. Some of the piano parts hark back to end 19th century classical piano music by let's say Rachmaninov. Another association is the North Sea Radio Orchestra. Despite all these connections, the album ultimately delivers a unique experience that appeals equally to the heart and the brain. I'm very happy that I came across it.