ROZMAINSKY & MIKHAYLOV PROJECT

Second, the album art: instead of an alien, as the album title may suggest, an ice age man comes to a city through a portal. This may help to understand the concept. I know that speaking of concept on instrumental albums may sound strange, but music is emotional and when the composer takes inspiration from a concept, this is an added layer.

Third, more important: the music.

I admit that I've taken very long before attempting a review. The album is not challenging, but requires attention and time before clicking. A hint: take the track title in mind while listening.

Now let's start the review.

The title track is not just an intro. The bass of the guest Ruslan Sobonin is the rhythmic element on a base made by a good fusion of keys and guitar. Leonid Perevalov's clarinet is barely perceivable but quite fundamental, unless my ears are wrong and it's a keyboard.

"For The Sun Of Righteousness" is calm and maybe newagey in the beginning, with the strings played by Ksenia Vaganova, another guest, setting a classical mood. Later it becomes a little darker. It sets the mood for the next track: "On a Factory of Broken Dreams". In the beginning, in background you can hear the last notes of the previous one. A three chords progression in crescendo after 1 minute and half is turned into something more "Crimsonian" that's introduced by drums. When bass and drums stop the initial progression is back but in a dreamy way. The track title is "On a Factory of Broken Dreams". It gives the idea. The track proceeds on a 2 chords progression. Daily Doug would say 1->3 then there's a remind to the previous track.

Again three chords, but it's the guitar this time, with some background vocals. It's "Steps. Loneliness in the CrowD". Imagine a stranger walking down a crowded street in a city night. This is what this music makes me think to. A bluesy guitar/keys duo to which later bass clarinet is added. Steps and rain close it.

"Something HappeneD to My Heart". A sad music reminding of the atmospheres of the Ucrainian band Yojo. The depressing view of a smoky city in the winter for the second longest track of the album. "Blot Out all Mine Iniquities" has a keyboard and church organ intro of the kind that remains impressed in the mind. In the same time, it's a very complex track full of different things and evolves into the following jazzy track "Loss of Watchfulness". Also this changes suddenly into something different.

"Uphold Me with Thy Free Spirit" an initial sequence of 8 notes then bass and guitar, then voices (or keyboard's ooh?) create something between Mike Oldfield and Peter Bardens. three intense minutes. It's a pity that this theme hasn't evolved into a long suite.

"In Forest. А Matter of ChoicE" is built around four bass notes. Probably the easiest and catchy track. I underline the guitar work: essential, never selfish, Just the needed notes. It reminds me to Camel. The ending forest sounds lead to "Strange Area. Something's Wrong Here". Now it's time for a dark ambient and strange keyboard sounds, with different things going on. It really gives the idea of the track title. Cinematic.

"Summer Haze. Lazy Dreams" emerges from the darkness of the previous track. Even with major and "7+" chords it gives me the idea of a wood in a mountain environment. The following "Night Flight. Еxperience of LevitatioN" has more rhythm, it's a proper rock track. Very enjoyable. It ends slowing down and becoming more atmospheric.

"X-Mas Child. Innocence and ExperiencE": by coincidence I'm writing this review on the X-Mas day. A nice guitar harping with soft drums and keyboard repeating a short theme. Children voices, bells sounds. I don't know how it fits in the album's concept. The last 30 seconds make me think to Vangelis.

Now the ending track. A female voice starts but soon leaves the scene. A bluesy guitar alternates with dreamy sounds, between newage and Pink Floyd.

As I have written initially, this album requires time and attention. Relistening to it while I was writing, taking the time to analyze every single track has transformed my listening experience, while I have to admit that initially I struggled to get into it.

An excellent album, very well played, arranged and produced if you have enough patience and time to dedicate to it.

There are times when the musical threads feel somewhat disconnected and unconnected, and it takes time for the brain to fathom what is really going on. The band themselves describe this album as almost instrumental (with rare female voices) progressive rock combining avant-prog, space-rock, psychedelic rock and improvisational music, yet while all that is true there are also elements of free jazz and even some RIO. Ivan produces a melodic base, often with piano, while Vladimir sometimes follows or goes off at complete tangents, Leonid may or may not be involved at all, while Yurii follows a path all on his own and Max tries to provide a link between them all. There are times when the music is complex in its arrangement that it feels like it has been scored for a modern orchestra and others when it feels so free as musicians go where they feel the need to explore. There is a great deal of space within the music, allowing everyone to come together or move apart as the need arises, and the listener is never sure where they are going to be taken except that the journey is definitely going to be worthwhile.

Yet another extremely enjoyable progressive album from Russia, and I look forward to the next one with great interest.

Sometimes it helps to take a break and come back to an album. When I first listened to the new album from Rozmainsky & Mikhaylov Project (RMP), I was still in thrall to Compassionizer's Caress of Compassion, and found myself quite underwhelmed by I Am A Stranger In The Earth. In fact, I couldn't even finish it, and put it aside for another day. Compassionizer is such a stiring and visceral piece of work, that it was hardly surprising that I Am A Stranger? might pale in comparison. Ironically, I suspect the sound of this RMP is more what a lot of people might have been expecting from Compassionizer, as since I wrote my own review I've read several that struggled to reconcile their understanding of what compassion should sound like, with the at times quite unsettling textures of Caress of Compassion.

I Am A Stranger?, despite by appearance (from the cover art and song titles) portraying an experience that would seem to evoke more negative emotions, comes across as quite playfully optimistic. As with anything that Ivan Rozmainsky puts his hand to, there is a touch of the avant, but overall this is a quite melodic feast. What I've always liked about Rozmainsky's music is that his musical points of reference always seem very different to most Western artists who otherwise are creating similar music. I presume this is down to geography, and the intersection of east and west, but regardless it creates something quite unique and special. If push came to shove, and I was forced, I could just about make some comparisons to King Crimson and Pink Floyd, but there are really only hints of those, and it would be stretching to call them similarities.

I've thus far mentioned only Rozmainsky, which is perhaps unfair given the name of this group. However, while it is his keyboard playing which drew me to the Project, and which provides a lot of my enjoyment, there's no doubt that Vladimir Mikhaylov plays some interesting guitar, creating some absolutely wonderful soundscapes at times. Generally I find that the less conventional his playing, the more I enjoy it. But I absolutely have to also mention the clarinet and bass clarinet playing of Leonid Perevalov (who also impressed me on the Compassionizer album). Some of my favourite moments and passages come from Perevalov's playing. The rhythm section of Yuri Groiser (who also played on the Compassionizer album) on drums, and Max Lokosov (who plays some very nifty bass that is almost subliminal in the way it attracts my attention), is also notable.

Mikhaylov also provides samples throughout the album which often provoke more reaction from me than his guitar playing (that is meant as a compliment to both), most effectively (for me) on X-Mas Child. Innocence and ExperiencE. But that track is towards the end of the album. So let's go back to the third track, On a Factory of Broken Dreams, which is the first to offer something a little less assured and positive. It's possibly because of this added edge that it is also one of the first tracks that is a particular favourite of mine. I can't help but be reminded of a long walk home in the dark, alone, when I was younger. I can't really remember much about that night, or even how old I was, or why I was afraid. But the first part of the song reminds me of how I was at first still somewhat confident, though cautious, before fear began to overwhelm me, just as the music becomes overwhelming. There's an interlude of relative peace, before the disquiet returns, and the music remains on edge, and full of trepidation for its remainder. I love it!

Steps. Loneliness in the CrowD is perhaps closest to a more conventional instrumental, albeit full of dissonance and difference. Mikhaylov's guitar playing even approaches being called Floydian. Of course, this can't last, and the track sort of disintegrates and trails off into ambience, which continues into the introduction of Something HappeneD to My Heart. Like much of this album, this number can sound on first listen to be similar to Roz Vitalis, but more beautiful, simple and melodic. This is only superficial, though, as the music of RMP is still quite intriguing and layered, with subtle atmospheres and textures. There's still plenty of darkness and discordance to be found ? it's merely more well hidden.

Blot Out All Mine Iniquities is another favourite, and again quite possibly because it sounds quite different from what has come before. It sounds quasi-religious, with bubbling church organ-like keys, that tinkle as if played by a sugar plum fairy whose halo has dropped somewhat, before the final 45-seconds bring a surprisingly fuller sound. Loss of Watchfulness, which follows, is also bubbly, though in quite a different way. This track at first reminds me a little of the angular jazz that one can often find on the MoonJune label, before going off on another tangent entirely. It's left to Uphold Me With Thy Free Spirit to calm things down, but it's possibly a little too calm, and a little too beautiful for me. Thankfully, as should probably be expected, nothing remains the same too long in a Rozmainsky & Mikhaylov Project number. On the other hand, it should probably go without saying that I love the track titled Strange Area. Something's Wrong Here.

Overall, I'm far more impressed with the Rozmainsky & Mikhaylov Project than I was initially. They appear to fill a gap wonderfully between the melodic and the avant garde ? the two creating a quite beautiful collision. It was that beauty that I initially found off- putting, but I think that was purely because my head was still caressed by Compassionizer. Their sound is far more multi-faceted than I initially thought, and had I persisted in listening to more of the album originally, I may well have come around. The varied moods and textures really work well, and the delicate way darkness and dissonance is introduced is quite delightful. It may not be as in your face as Roz Vitalis and Compassionizer, but it's definitely still there. I'll now be going back to check out RMP's debut and live album, which have been on my "to listen to" list for far too long now, and likely still would be had I not taken on this album for review.

But the actual meat is not so much in the story itself, as in the music setting the scenery. There you have nice experimental interaction between keyboards and guitars, composing a richly embroidered tapestry, which is, for the most part, very calm paced and transparent in harmony (yet abundant in tasty dissonance). There is also a generous portion of classical tinges thrown in, for which every ear should be grateful (as I think they are indeed), and that brings a healthy alternation with the more atonal experimentation. The occasional intervention of the drums seems a bit erratic in those experimental sections (to my ears at least), but getting assurance in pace and timing for the more traditional stuff.

Summing up: a good new experience for me, with a decisive virtue: even sounding so classic in terms of the vintage sound of guitars and keyboards (plus clarinet and violin, of course), this record never sounds dated or indebted with the ubiquitous influences so common in the whole prog genre. Good, but, bringing some fresh air, more than good.

For the most part the sound is very good, although the drums aren't quite in the space they need to be and I'm not sure if that is down to the production or how they were set up, while the clarinet isn't as to the fore as it should be at times. For the most part the ears are concentrated on the interplay between Rozmainsky and Mikhaylov, and the guitar sound in particular is very clear and distinct. Given the band were new, and hadn't performed live prior to this, perhaps it isn't surprising there are times when they lose their way. When they get it right then they are very good indeed, but when they lose the musical thread it can be heard for them to pick it up again. Pursuing a musical area often thought of as belonging to the likes of Art Zoyd, this is an album showing promise, so given that both this and the studio album are now two years old I look forward to the next release with interest.

Yes, I don't know what the heck this is!

And that's ok.

After all, progressive music ought to push the borders from time to time, right?

This is a capture of live performances at festivals in Russia, yet I think there's more going on here.

I'll call it 'spiritual reverie', maybe even 'worship'-

Through layers of keyboard sounds- electric piano, clavinet, organ; guitar sliding, musing, singing; deep, plodding, droning bass guitar lines; drumming that sometimes nails down a simple, forceful groove and other times goes wild; and of all things bass clarinet squalling, noodling, screeching'

'in almost a Gregorian Chant kind of way the listener is brought into other realms, almost like meditation'

'through repetitions, droning octave lines, and increasingly urgent calls and responses among guitar, keyboards, clarinet, and who-knows-what.

'Live' is devilishly hard to capture:

For me anyway, live albums often suffer in comparison with studio recordings in which musicians get to obsessively craft and create exactly the sounds and moods they wish to capture.

Live performance, on the other hand, is notoriously hard to manage, and recording it is a challenge as well- who knows what the wind will do, the heat, the audience, the equipment?

Yet here we have seasoned musicians creating moods on the fly

Most often the keyboards start things off, then others enter, spar, add to, deviate from, at times in dissonant jarring tones, and sometimes quietly powerful.

Somehow as the album progresses, things fly more and more into the ozone of challenge, dis-harmony, near frenzy and chaos.

IF spiritual reverie it is, as I am suggesting, it is a spirituality that pokes, challenges, prods, pummels, demands, wails, and whines- as well as soothing and uplifting.

Conclusion

These tracks yanked me around, moved me, calmed me, agitated me, annoyed me, and amused me.

I'd say that's a win.

3.5 whirling-dervish encounters

Unfortunately, these concert recordings either predate or were concurrent with the sessions for their first album, and the same neophyte shortcomings (compositional naïveté; the occasional clunky performance) were only emphasized when performed without the camouflage of studio production cosmetics.

The good news here is the abundance of new material, a lot of it written on the spot: an indication perhaps of where future Rozmainsky & Mikhaylov Projects might be heading. The not-so-good news is their collective lack of improvisational chops, at least in these excerpts (from three different gigs). Live music should always carry an element of risk, and a little imprecision only shows the genuine human heartbeat of a true musician, unafraid to expose his faults alongside his virtues. But the often sloppy jamming in the latter half of the album doesn't flatter the otherwise engaging talent on display, with the lead-footed drumming in particular acting not unlike a ship's anchor dragging on the musical sea bed (imagine Pink Floyd's Nick Mason, only more so...)

Some bands are at their best when performing without a safety net, but it might be too soon to include RMP among their ranks. The proof is in the album's closing track, still live but more effectively recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio, and easily eclipsing all the Babooinumfest material preceding it. Like all of RMP's music the curtain closer is cinematically instrumental, highlighting Vladimir Mikhaylov's punchy bass guitar and some droning, dreamy synth and electric piano interplay, not far removed from the more atmospheric currents of Krautrock.

And the name of the song? "Forsake Me Not", a title I will certainly take to heart when the next RMP effort - hopefully another studio album - crosses my radar.

It's a promising first effort by veteran musicians perhaps still learning how to coordinate their skills within a new group. When it works, the album soars: in the lilting "Keep No Thou Silence" (all the track titles are pure poetry), and throughout the atmospheric "Floydian Sun" tribute. But some otherwise good music is sadly undermined by the occasional plodding tempo, keeping the album earthbound when it should be gliding weightless toward the empyrean ideal named in the title track and elsewhere ("For the Light"; "Wounded By the Lack of Light'; so forth).

You can hear that divide in the album's first notes, when the ghostly prologue suddenly collides headlong into a clumsy backbeat. That initial haunting refrain reappears in various forms across the album's 48-minutes, providing welcome thematic continuity on a more or less instrumental collection: the only vocals are some lovely wordless singing by Anastasia Mikhaylova.

The keyboards and guitar of R and M are dominant, of course. But several effective secret weapons are hidden in the band's arsenal: the sultry bass clarinet of Leonid Perevalov (ex-Yojo, which I hope doesn't mean that excellent band is now defunct), and the occasional gusli, an evocative Slavic zither played by guest star Natalia Fyodorova.

According to their lofty mission statement: "The fundamental goal of the band and its debut album is to open new musical worlds that cannot be analyzed in the rational manner." Which immediately excludes my own petty efforts to do exactly that, so I'll quit here.

But I have to applaud the band's musical idealism, and hope they continue striving to reach those irrational other worlds. Even when, as suggested by their first recorded attempt, the goal is just beyond their reach.

Rozmainsky and Mikhaylov Project (RMP) is a band from Russia, formed by Ivan Rozmainsky on keyboards and Vladimir Mikhaylov on bass and guitars, here supported by Leonid Perevalov on clarinets and Yurii Groiser on drums. This is a live album capturing some of their performances at the 2017 Babooinumfest festival, consisting of some songs from their debut 'For the Light' plus some new cuts, except the last track which is also live but not from those shows.

The sound is very clear for a live recording, of course lacking the production of a studio album but still with a very direct sound where every instrument is clearly audible.

The style is psychedelic / space rock very much reminding of early Pink Floyd. Completely instrumental, most songs take some motif, some chord progression, and start developing it by adding or removing complexity, shifting the intensity with crescendos and diminuendos, playing solos with the different instruments, introducing breaks, switching the sounds used etc. The pace is for the most part slow to mid-tempo.

Most songs are not too long, between 3 and 5 minutes, and while the instrumental quality is good this is not music where virtuosism comes into play like in many other Jazz-Rock / Fusion albums. At any rate it is accessible music, nowhere dark nor too complex or intimidating. It is perfect as background music while we are doing something but also rewarding when we put on the headphones and simply lay back to relax and let our mind escape under the influence of the music.

Rozmainsky uses a lot of e-piano and organ and some sound effects, but probably the most distinctive feature is the comprehensive use of the clarinet, mostly its bass version.

Overall a very enjoyable album but without any 'Wow' factors.

The first 3 tracks show this perfectly, with 'Wounded by the Lack of Light' being predominantly guitar focused, while 'Keep No Thou Silence' contains elements such as a piano, along with a much greater focus on synths and keyboards. 'A Dedication To The Floydian Sun' then further introduces elements by having a large focus on the clarinet and bass clarinet. After this, 'Create in Me A Clean Heart' combines these elements and then draws attention to the rhythm, with a near hypnotic beat. I also really enjoy the neoclassical edge the song has to it with the keyboard mimicking the sound of a harpsichord. While another reviewer already mentioned this, I do really like the touch of every song including the word "light" having this melodic motif, which gives the album a nice bit of character. While this is cool, I find the songs themselves to be a bit lacking, without anything other than the reprises to be particularly memorable. 'Delivered from the Snare of the Fowler' on the other hand manages to start straight off with a great fade in intro with one of the better guitar sections on the album, before morphing into more abstract music with a lot more focus on atmosphere. I enjoy this version of 'Coming of the Troubled Waters' a lot more than the version on 'Adventures...', with the section where there is very little instrumentation other than the keyboard to sound marvellous, with the way it slowly builds to include more rhythmic interplay while still ending it on a very pretty note to be great. Similarly to this, I really loved the various transitions in 'A Flower in the Smoke'. The album ends nicely with the long 'For the Light', with a darker sound very similar to what one could find in one of Kind Crimson's improvisational tracks before developing into a highly entertaining groove. This is easily my favourite track for the energy and the amount of ground it covers, all while still sounding perfectly enjoyable.

Overall, I do prefer this album to the live one by the same band, with a great deal of it being due to how much tighter written it is, with less extended jams that didn't feel as if they were going anywhere with them. I definitely found this album enjoyable, taking the often abstract nature of this particular kind of music, and giving it a lot of atmosphere along with never making it anything extremely challenging to listen to, instead being quite pleasant. Despite there being a couple of slight dips in quality, I also can comfortably say that there wasn't anything that I considered low quality on here, making it a consistently enjoyable album that I'd highly recommend.

Best songs: Create in Me a Clean Heart, Coming of the Troubled Waters, For The Light

Weakest songs: The Thing in the Light

Verdict: Despite the improvised jam style that the band seems to take on, the music is rather pleasant to listen to, without too much of anything to seriously challenge the listener, unless they aren't too keen on purely instrumental albums. Despite this, it is a highly enjoyable album that I highly recommend is listened to.