Ovod - Between The Days FLAC

Ovod "Between The Days" CDr

Russian soundscaper Ivan Lavrov from Saint Petersburg, the sole protagonist behind newcomer project Ovod, has released his debut album "Between The Days" in digital formats at 2015 New Year's Day, while limited physical pro CDr edition, packaged in glossy 4-panel digipak, saw the light during March 2015.

As announced by the artist, based on midnight improvisations with guitars and synths, the album opens with "Flashback Voices" and straightly delves into weirdly tiding surfaces, merging windy, perplexingly-infused nocturnal landscapes with evocative strings and dramatic undulations, ranging from subtler through orchestral-like glimpses to rawer, noisier outbursts. An uniquely colored 9-minute introduction to Ovod's soundworlds!!! As displayed by the title, "Night At Port", remains in shadowy terrains with its hauntingly piercing and enigmatically engrossing electric guitar experiments, ephemerally softened with intangibly swirling melody. This is a really worthwhile piece precisely capturing a nightly atmosphere at some industrial port. Well-done, Ivan!!! "Kolomyazhsky" keeps its discordant feel, shrilly sounds counterpointed with more minimal ventures and poignant electric strings. As a guest, Alexander Tarakanov with his guitar joins Ivan Lavrov. This piece authentically unveils a night atmosphere of car lights exhibition at Kolomyazhsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg. The next track, strangely entitled "Swamp Helicopters", dives into droning terra zones enhanced by the processed sounds of oscillating helicopter blades and lightened by nuanced string subtleties, although monochromatically reverberating hum is continuously bridged with eerily crescendoing tapestries. The piece climaxes throughout the last third into mesmerizingly mindscaping images before vanishing through ethereal echoes of strings. A truly peculiar soundcarving!!! Shorter "The Tale Of Time Lost" is most likely as much strange, but by far more accessible due to its more minimal and relieving texture, when long-buried memories begin to awake. "Butterfly Day" merges gorgeously scenic passages, pleasantly weaving, with evanescent cricket traceries and ear-tickling dissonances. On "Afterglow" Alexander Tarakanov rejoins the stage, where expressive electric guitar virtuosity triumphantly traverses across exquisitely mysterious horizons, while soothing field recordings of gentle rain falling on metal roof persistently hang above. Stunningly evocative composition, certainly one of the pinnacles!!! The closing piece, "When Rails Are Not Alone", is ignited by nostalgic feelings of a railway noises, that immediately set the atmosphere for this composition, where soothingly evocative washes are meticulously coupled with touching strings, both warm and penetrating. Scanty drone hums with sharper high-tech fragments emerge as well. Strikingly gorgeous finale!!!

It looks like this guy doesn't follow any rules, he simply seeks for his own path and even if this style is not exactly my fave type of ambient-driven soundsculpting, "Between The Days" is a very fruitful recording filled with huge dose of emotions and creativity. Bizarrely flavored, yes, but always enthralling, that's "Between The Days"!!! To make the credits complete, mastering job is provided by Taylor Deupree of 12k, while Ekaterina Topal is responsible for catchy cover images. "Between The Days" is without any doubt a very strong debut work, congratulations, Ivan!!!

Richard Gürtler (May 31, 2015, Bratislava, Slovakia)