Year of release: 2020
Label: COD Label
Rating: 7,3 / 10
Another difficult COD release for my rusty perception, albeit for different reasons than the previous ones. MAJDANEK WALTZ is a very famous group, perhaps even a cult one, and of course I have never listened to it. Neo- or dark-folk there seems to be quite close to me in spirit, but finding a group in it that style that I would like to listen to over and over again is very problematic for me. Everywhere I come across the same problem, which I will tell about below.
The songs for the album "She", according to the press release, were composed 10 years ago. A characteristic feature of the release is that it is devoid of experimental or industrial elements. The basis is acoustics and voices; various classical instruments such as double bass, cello, clarinet and so on are used in the arrangements. The weighty work contains 13 songs for 52 and a half minutes, which is quite a lot. The arrangements, being very restrained, somehow still manage to strain the brain. Perhaps the reason is that the album was recorded by as many as 19 people, and each put a piece of his personality into it. Try to let such a crowd into your consciousness in less than an hour! Pavel Blumkin, who is the main vocalist (rather a reader) stands out especially. It's funny that I almost went crazy trying to remember how I can know this characteristic timbre and impressive diction in the style of voice acting in some dramatic film. And then I realized - his inspired reading of texts to acoustic music is very similar to that of Temnarod (ZAKLON). There are such coincidences.
All songs on "She" are very dignified, serious and high, revealing a huge scope for imagination. I am drawn to the subject of cinema again, but that is because they would really be great for a soundtrack for some serious film. They have a Hollywood scale and professionalism, and, at the same time, amazing accessibility. Your mom, upon hearing any of the tracks from the album, would say “what a beautiful music”, I guarantee it. And then there are literally poetic texts borrowed from Blok, Goethe and many others. High art!
And indeed it is. Now I come to the problem that I announced at the beginning. All this beauty and depth makes me feel a strong kinship of “She” with academic music, which is the triumph of form over content and a means of evoking emotions, not transmitting them. The melancholy of MAJDANEK WALTZ on this album doesn't seem genuine to me. It is very skillfully painted. You also need to be able to do this, but I don't respect this approach, that's why I work with underground music, where the essence always prevails (or should prevail) over the rest. MAJDANEK WALTZ flawlessly conveyed what they wanted, and in terms of performance, there is nothing to complain about. But it's like a slideshow, where pictures of ideal forms float in front of you, delighting the eye, but not the soul. There is no noticeable dynamics here, no life. Everything is too cold-blooded. Maybe this is how it should be in this genrer, I don't know.
There are several physical editions of the album. I have an option in a Jewel with a folding booklet, which contains the list of participants. Perhaps it is not enough for such a serious work, it would be possible to add visual images to help you listen to songs. Details on a video.
English (UK) 
Крыўская