OBIYMY DOSCHU

1. "Діти / Children" (7:01) Hearing this beautiful song--an ode to humankind's insidious loss of innocence--I can definitely hear others' references to Québecois (prog) folk singer-songwriter SERGE FIORI. The slow build into progginess for the instrumental middle 90 seconds is what makes it prog. Amazing lyrics. Knowing what Volodymyr and his Ukrainian compatriots have been having to deal with while their homeland is being shredded by war and violence and how the realities of his friends, relatives, and fellow Ukranians must be skewed by the daily psycho- spiritual pressures and predicaments they're placed in only augments the weightiness of these lyrics. And then add into the mix the sincere and genuine feeling Voldoymyr manages to deliver in his singing and we have quite a powerful song here. (14.25/15)

2. "На відстані / At Distance" (5:08) sounds so much like Polish Heavy Proggers BELIEVE and their last couple of amazing albums. Volodymyr definitely has a great singing voice. The lyrics about living in a fog of death (ghosts), fatigue, and numbness are powerful. A nice song that I could see providing the balm of an anthem for his countrymates. (9/10)

3. "Буревій / Hurricane" (6:26) again I am struck by the similarities between Volodymyr's singing voice and those of Collage, Quidam, Satellite, Mr. Gil, and Believe: sometimes lead vocalists Robert Amirian and Karol Wróblewski. Here he uses Nature as a metaphor for the time and conditions in which the horrible effects of war can be left behind, even forgotten: in Nature the hurricane leaves behind . . . Nature. The lead guitar and chamber strings are great but are a bit drowned out by the prog rock mid-section and rock rhythm section. (8.875/10)

4. "Відрада / Refuge" (5:34) though populated with some threads of more delicately-played guitars (acoustic) and piano, the bass and drums--and vocals--still render this one a prog song, though lyrically it's more like a song of longing and future hope--the song has a kind of feel and structure that reminds me of American pop radio songs from the 1970s and 80s--the rock "power ballads" that classic rock and "hair bands" used to "crossover" into radio-friendly domains. A complex and well-designed tapestry. (9/10)

5. "Після війни / After the War" (4:44) sounds like Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" mixed with Goo Goo Dolls' monster hit "Iris." The lyrics are rather self-explanatory but choose not to touch on the possibilities of scars, bitterness, regret, the need for vengeance, and future attitudes. (8.875/10)

6. "Час / Time" (5:29) powerful and emotional song that reminds me of some of Jimmy Webb's great songs from the 1960s & 70s again superimposed upon by a Goo Goo Dolls-like instrumental palette. How does humankind rise above the endless cycle of war and conflict? Is it possible? It's conceivable but given the way humans are wired, is it even practicable? Yaroslav Gladilin does a great job of grounding the song in rock foundations while the strings and piano move on to more chamber-like embellishments. And yet the song returns, over and over, to a delightful kind of chamber folk foundation (something that reminds me of ARCADE FIRE's classic Funeral album). It's as if Volodymyr & Company have something to teach us! The lyrics definitely flow from the present tense of future nows that was explored in the previous two songs into something more philosophical--about what possibilities lie ahead. Brilliant! (9.375/10)

7. "Істини / Truths" (8:57) piano, acoustic guitars, and strings open this song--a NOT A GOOD SIGN-like piano arpeggio motif--while Volodymyr sings in an impassioned Karol Wróblewski-like voice. The band amps up into a heavier, more full sonosphere in the the third minute with strings enhancing and further amplifying the two chords of the chorus. providing a gorgeous foundation for Volodymyr's public airing of his worries about the same issues I asked in "After the War" and "Time": Can humankind rise above the emotion-based cycles of war: heal the scars, get over the bitterness and regrets, sublimate the strong urges for vengeance and retribution--can they (we) ever achieve a "higher" state of detachment and universal love while still occupying these brute animal human bodyminds? With this heavy prog metal buildup and crescendo of the album's penultimate song Volodymyr & Company are not leaving me with much hope. A powerful song with a great, thick weave and some great guitar and vocal performances. (18.75/20)

8. "Не опускати руки / Don't Give Up" (6:16) the lyrics of this delightful and quirky final song are a bit fatalistic and cynical yet realistically pragmatic: make the most of now for tomorrow you (or your loved ones) may be gone. No, there's nothing new in Volodymyr's message but the music he chooses to deliver it in belies some hope and resignation to the process which does restore some hope. Live! It's life; it's just life, so live it while you've got it. Great song. Great finish--both the big chorus and the gorgeous chamber strings. (9.667/10)

Total Time 49:35

I respect Volodymyr and the band's gift for heart-wrenching Jimmy Webb-like melodies and unexpected hooks while, at the same, enriching and embellishing the musical weaves with layers of folk and classical themes and sounds. The musicians and engineers do a great job delivering some great BELIEVE-like prog rock while accommodating perfectly Volodymyr & Company's unique vision for thickly layered tapestries that are the end result. Mega kudos, señoras and señores! You have truly achieved something remarkable--something historical! Would that it helps you and your peoples persevere and heal!

A/five stars; an exceptional masterpiece of richly-textured progressive rock music that is greatly enhanced by carrying a relevant and meaningful message.

There is so much beauty contained within this, touched with sadness and melancholy, that it is almost hard to comprehend. That this can be produced in such a very dark time in their nation's history is nothing short of incredible. Longtime collaborator Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief) again produced this album, and the result is something which is full of grit, determination and beauty where none should exist. I gave their last album top marks, and this deserves nothing less.

The moody, cinematic prog of opening track 'Children' works excellently on many levels as the grief and solace of this song are communicated by the music in a heartfelt way that resembles what Marillion and Steven Wilson have been doing recently, for example. 'At Distance' impresses with its wavy, almost oceanic synth leads and beautiful acoustic guitars - a complex and emotional work with great vocal work all throughout; the touch of folksiness is quite enjoyable here as well. Then the sweeping violins of 'Hurricane' only seem to serve as a prelude to the pop-sided verses and gorgeous melodies of one of the best songs off the album, closing off the song with a wash of intense guitar sounds. So far the mood is sentimental, embracive and really cinematic - Obiymy Doschu have crafted an inspired collection of melodic art rock with a very eclectic nature that sits really well within the landscape of progressive rock of the current decade. The post-rock soundscapes of 'After the War' support the nostalgic tone of this shorter song that offers another powerful chorus, while 'Time' seems to be most suspenseful piece on the album with its melodramatic use of light strings and orchestral notes. 'Truths' is a more labyrinthian mini-suite informed by the moody and sprawling art-rock inclinations of this entire album, and the closing track 'Don't Give Up' is as intense as it is accessible. The influence of Bruce Soord and Steve Kitch from The Pineapple Thief, who mixed, mastered and produced this fantastic record, can be felt all over, from the warm, lush notes of the sound overall to the clarity of every instrument and vocal harmony. Just a brilliant and warm crossover rock album that is equally inspired by progressive rock, folk music, orchestral music and chamber pop, and a simply flawless release from Obiymy Doschu.

The album is strongly influenced by the current war, even if not explicitly. The music has a kind of singer-songwriter feeling, due probably to the excellent acoustic guitar, but the instrumental parts, sustained by a string quartet, give it the symphonic flavor.

But it's not only symphonic; there are heavy guitars, keyboards and surprisingly the growl of Andriy Tkachenko in the final crescendo of Thruths, the penultimate track of the album.

It starts melancholic. Child is perfect in setting the whole album mood, and I also suggest to watch the video. It's both on Bandcamp and on Youtube. The lyrycs are in Ukrainian, but to give you an idea a translated sentence says "Deep inside We're children In search of forgotten dreams".

I'm not expert in that matter, but I suspect that the singing style takes something from the tradition: the timbric of Agafonkin is simlar to the "Pink Floyd" Andriy Khlyvnyuk. Getting used to it may take a bit, but it's very rewarding. The whole band is excellent in term of musical skills, and a mention goes to the production that's equally excellent.

Now, while the war is just somewhere in the background on "Child", it's more present on the second track "On Distance". Stlii not explicitly, it says "We search for a refuge Staring through the snow". Not a mention to the causes of the war, the goods and the bads, just the description of what people feels. Read the lyrics on Bandcamp. It enhances the experience.

Hurricane is one of my favorites. The intro is instrumantal by acoustic guitar and strings while the chord sequence reminded me in some ways to the Canadian Harmonium. Thinking while I'm writing, if you love Harmonium and Serge Fiori, Obiymy Doschu is for you.

Refuge is a love song, with an interesting signature. The chorus is the kind that can resound in your head after the listen.

"After the war" is obviously a song of hope. Again, the lyrics don't speak explicitly of the current war. It can be applied to any other war, with the exception of Gaza that can't be considered properly a war as it's nothing but a genocide.

"Time" is more intimistic. I quote "Every drop will change something in the soul Where the rains never cease So that one day, hearing dreams We too may learn from Spring" The piano bridge is remarkable. The strings on the coda have summoned the Beatles in my mind, with the difference that here the strings are arranged and played by the band.

The already mentioned "Thruths" is the longest and also the most complex track of the whole album. It has a quiet start. Piano and acoustic guitar then strings with some classical influences before the vocals enter. The chord sequence is complex as well, but still very melodic. Finally, bass and drums join in while the piano continues the arpeggio. It's a crescendo of instruments. An electric guitar gives the start to a crescendo which in the end transforms the song. While remaining melodic, after a couple of stop, slowing it down, in the last part the guitar introduces a metal crescendo which ends with the growl. To me this is musically the best track.

Don't Give Up is an optimistic closer. I suggest watching the video (again both on Bandcamp and on Youtube). The melody is captivating and the backing vocals of Karina Sokolovska harmonize very well with Agafonkin. Also this song has a crescendo, but ends with the strings quartet on a melancholic theme, like the end titles of a movie.

As I have written in the beginning, to me this is the album of the year. In the past I have written about the previous works of the band. I loved both Elehia and Son, but this is really superior to both. I'm not ashamed of giving it 5 stars.

Try it on Bandcamp, buy it if you like it and please let me know. Have I been too enthusiastic?

I want to spend few words about the title whose ethimology witnesses the common origin of many European peoples (Russians included). "Son" in Ukrainian means "dream". Well, in my mother language (Italian), "sonno" means sleep and "sogno", with gn spelled as ñ in Spanish, means "dream". Same roots for words in langauges distant thousand of miles.

Now the proper review: "The Last Moment" starts with a progression and a melody that initially reminded me to a Keith Emerson's solo song, but it's just the start. This is a symphonic track. If you have the ability of getting used to the vocals of Vladimir Agafonkin, tis song is full of things going on, with strong melodies, excellent production and great arrangements including also a metal-like distorted guitar near the end of the track.

"Wings" is opened by Agafonkin's acoustic guitar. The strings, a viola and two cellos give richness to the soundscape and Olga Skripova's backing vocals armonize very well with Agafonkin's baritonal voice. Almost all the songs of the album have strong melodies of the kind that you can recognize as familiar already at the second listen. This one, in particular, scores about 10 minutes but has so much going on as it was a sort of short epic. A remarkable electric guitar riff is in the middle, followed by an acoustic guitar and flute duo followed by cello. Progressively tasteful.

"Together" has a very simple 4 chords progression. When I was in a band, something similar was written by our guitarist and was actually my favorite band's song. So I personally like it, but it lacks some originality. Very melodic, indeed.

After so much melody a darker track is needed. The Dark River's intro rocks and can remind to Transatlantic. After the intro it's mainly acoustic guitar and voice for a sad melody based on minor chords. Boris Khodorkovskiy's flute takes the lead with a very melodic interlude. At the end it's a perfect sad song that scores about 11 minutes so it can be filled by many instrumental parts giving room to guitar, strings and so on.

Minor chords again for "Facing The Silence". Yevhen Dubovyk's keayboards leave the background. It's the first instrumental track of the album, but the album flows so seamlessly that I've taken a while to realize that Agafonkin doesn't sing on it.

On "The Room" Olga's vocal harmonies are back. It's quite a pop song but it's also one of the most enjoyable of the album. I can't say if it's the best, but it's the kind of song that one can spin twice in a row because one time is not enough. A flute solo in a Jimmy Hastings style is a very good addition to it.

"Interlude" is just a one minute instrumental with a cinematic mood. Good for a movie soundtrack. It could have been extended, but its purpose is to introduce the title track so it can be considered part of that.

"Dream" is again a minor chords song whose sadness is increased by the violin solo. Agafonkin's voice sounds dramatic. Anyway, despite the high use of classical instruments it's a rock track. On the short guitar solo, Aleksy Katruk sounds like Piotr Grudzinski.

Then it comes a sweet melancholic song. I don't know the lyrics, but in these days its title adds a special meaning: "My Dear Land". It has been released in 2017, I don't know if there's any reference to the Crimea thing, but I can imagine an Ukrainian volunteer holding a gun in a devastated city.

I hope that the band can be prophetic as the following track is "A New Beginning". Hopefully a good one. Percussion and sax like in a newage instrumental, lightly melancholic but with more major chords. It transmits more positive feelings, in particular due to the sax. I remember having thought that the electric guitar couldn't have had a sound different from the one used here. After the guitar string and piano play an interlude and the clean guitar is back with a lot of reverb. A very nice instrumental.

It was a dream, by the way, so the closer track "Angel" is again newagey and sounds like waking up in a sunny day. Olga Skripova is the lead singer in this song, with Agafonkin backing her.

What to say? I'm possibly conditioned by the current situation, also because we don't even know if the band members, based in Kiev, are still alive, but I see that I'm not the first rating it with the maximum, and as I have written in the first line of this review, this album was in my mind long before the war.

Long life to your dear land.

His vocals are backed by Hanna Kryvonos, who is a guest but brings an important additional layer to the songs.

Acoustic guitar, I said. It's the base or all the songs and it's quite obvious, as the composer is Agafonkin. I assume that the lyrics play an important part, but unfortunately I can't find a translation other than the track titles.

Winter elegy is my favorite. The dramaticity of the vocals, the uptime tempo, the progression of just two minor chords with the crescendo and the sudden final change when it goes back to acoustic, with seagulls and sea sounds.

There's a continuity between all the tracks. They are separated but the album flows like a long suite. If you are not disturbed by the "eastern sounding" vocals, which I personally like but may be appalling for somebody, this is an album that I can strongly recommend, and its follow-up "Son" is equally good but it will be the subject of another review

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

There are obvious similarities with Bruce's own work, and I can see why they wanted him involved, as he has managed to capture the beauty and majesty of a quite amazing album. In many ways it is truly progressive as the band have been magpies across multiple progressive sub genres, taking the bits that shine and sparkle and then mixing them with their own take on folk and pop to create something that is very different to most of the music that is coming out of the scene today. The arrangements are incredibly complex and layered, without being smothering as there is always plenty of room for everyone. At times the guitars are hard and threatening with squeals of pain and dischord coming from the viola, but at others it is light and fresh. It can be languid, or it driving, yet is always inspirational and essential. It is a great album, one that all progheads need to seek out, even if it isn't what they might expect from the genre as a whole. What about this for the final word from the band? "Despite how much it cost for us to create this album, we're sharing it with you for free. In return, we ask you to help us be heard by sharing the album with your friends personally and on social networks, writing a review on your favourite music website, leaving comments and likes. We won't make it without you." You heard the guys