Year of release: 2021
Label: COD Label
Rating: 6,2 / 10
The next release from the COD promo pack: the second (if I understand correctly) album of the solo project of Natasha. For some reason named in Belarusian latin. Most likely, this name has to do with the well-known comrade Pichushkin, who once worked in the Bitsevsky forest, but I cannot say for sure. I would like to note right away that the project belongs to a sphere so remote from my interests that it can be considered as another universe, and on the pages of Bagnik Zine, undoubtedly, there has never been anything so "non-format". But, in the end, my business is small - to describe what I listened to. And then let the experts guess if I'm wrong.
"Home", according to the publisher, offers “synthwave with a romantic flair of hopelessness”, and this is true, but not all. The fact is that all or almost all of the instrumental material is performed on a synthesizer, but there are also a lot of post-punk elements, a little less industrial (in the broadest sense) and very few careful experiments that defy categorization. However, these are all labels, and in the end it matters if the songs are good. Mostly yes. The main melodies are very unpretentious and tenacious, although this tenacity sometimes comes from some kind of crazy originality. For example, when you first hear "Yasenevo", you immediately think: "This is some kind of garbage." At the second listening you feel like you've played this song 50 times already, even if you don't like it anyway. Such is the paradox. Reminds me of the only time I heard "you got to put down the duckie" from Muppet Show when I was 7 years old, and immediately hated this song, but could not forget it. Now I love it. With "Yasenevo" it is unlikely will work out the same way but you get the point.
The lack of, as I see it, is precisely that they are played entirely on a synthesizer. I can directly hear what it would sound like with a set of normal instruments (spoiler alert: like a grea post-punk). This does not apply to all songs, but majority. There is ephemeral ambient with vocals, too. The feeling remains, as if Natalia made a scheme for a future group recording. By the way, she has excellent diction and a sense of rhythm, and her voice sounds very confident - within the framework of such music, this is important.
For the most part, the album is dedicated to the area where Natalia lives, e.g. southern Moscow. There are even songs "Chertanovo" and "Yasenevo". I must say that urban experiences do not touch me at all; I can't stand Moscow and other megacities, I deliberately live on the outskirts of the village, there is ground under my nails, so the aesthetics of "Home" leave me indifferent. Not disgusting - and that's enough. I will note the cover photo though; this symbolic view really touches something on the subcortex and makes you think. If the photo was taken in the same places that "Home" tells about then I was even there 7 years ago, circling Moscow just from the south. I remember how, for some reason, I was very hooked by the view across such a field, where the lights of a huge city could be seen in the distance. Perhaps it is better to keep this distance, visiting this huge shithole only with the help of such music.
"Home" was released in the format of a fold-out digisleeve. There is no booklet with the texts, but they are easy to make out by ear. The limitation is 97 h/n copies only. Details on a video. I give the album a moderate rating which is based not on negative impressions, but on general feelings. It's still not my type of music, and I'm not sure I understood it completely. But I will say with confidence that I did not spent my time in vain.
English (UK) 
Крыўская