
PODVIG! – Cloud Maze
Look, every musician earnestly hopes and imagines that the next time they will touch a musical instrument something wonderful and unique will occur. Every one of these musicians also knows that these kinds of things need to be documented, but few actually take the effort to do this. Consequently, some of the best live performances by your favourite band might’ve occurred in a rehearsal room somewhere and have never been heard since.
And while magical things may happen when musicians get together and sail into the unknown, that’s most frequently not the case. Every band starts out as a jam band, and the majority of them remain that. It’s just one of the reasons why instrumental music is not always an easy sell. However, those who have the willingness to not only tempt magic but record and arrange it in such a way that it creates a complete composition, deserve your full attention.
Something special is happening during “Cloud Maze” by PODVIG! It happens all throughout the composition. Like a classic Tangerine Dream, the abstract rock sounds do, if you are so inclined, possess the power to whisk you away to another world. The sounds are surprising and play upon whatever strings the imagination gets pulled by. This is no jam-rock. “Cloud Maze” is a striking composition.
Osnova – Climbing Dues
It may sound far-fetched to compare songwriting to the alchemical process. But you have to remember what songwriters start out with every time that they write a new song – anxiety and an empty piece of paper. Sure, there are plenty of familiar tricks that the musician may choose to use and enough modern technology to make a classical composer’s head burst open for excitement.
But the challenges are always the same – find the truth and make an audience believe it while bending sounds to your will. I know that there are thousands of songs released every day. However, just consider how many of these can really wrap around your imagination and speak to your soul. The ones that do that have performed nothing less than a magic trick.
Osnova’s “Climbing Dues” is, first of all, an avalanche of sounds that will tie around you and won’t let go. The blend of alt-rock, dream-pop and shoegaze elements come together very well, and it’s the merit of the production that these don’t clash. But listen more closely, and you’ll hear words protesting against an unfair and always demanding society. Osnova’s songwriting may have been built from anxiety, but it helped to create something that many may find inspiring.