La Horsa Bianca — Somatic Schematic (2018)

Such music demands to be listened in high settings to be sure I’m not missing any single note, any single pause from this generous hand holding the strings, making the keyboards sound like sometime ago, shaking the tambourine with its alluring (& appealing) "tri-ki-ti". From the very first track of this collective what is pictured on "Somatic Schematic" cover stops to "seem" and becomes real.

La Horsa Bianca band do not revive "vintage" sound but pieces the emptiness of psychedelic rock/art rock genre out, on the terrain of already willing Ukraine. Not each desire to start works out as it did for these five Kharkiv musicians in 2016. From that time exactly musical curls linked into something more, collective’s official page teased waiting ones with short previews before final outbreak of their full-length album "Somatic Schematic" happened on the 5th of October, 2018. Band seems not to need any additional time for swinging, becoming better with each new release – from the first try the members give away all their juices to their only creation. 

Presentation of the debut album took place at the cultural center of native Kharkiv "ART AREA ДК" 12.10.2018, where the band already performed before. Recording work was made in Kharkiv also, namely in Digout studio, through which the compositions of "Ulitsa Kurzu" and Divo («Улицы Курзу» и Divo) passed. Multi-instrumentalist Eugene Manko and guitarist from Kharkiv Guitar Quartet Maxim Trianov undertook mixing and mastering phase.

To saturate the listener each member of La Horsa Bianca had to play more than one instrument, to go much further usual guitar-percussion-bass. Thus mentioned Eugene Manko, except bass and acoustics, was responsible for mostly all brass parts, aside from trumpet and alt-trombone. There are exhales of Kiril Honchar in the first of two instuments, so as second guitar belongs to him. As for alt-trombone, it is filled with energy of Olha Ksendzovska. The only woman in the collective, she also subordinated all the keyboards to the light chants of hers, which were skillfully highlighted by Ihor Avdeev’s drum rataplan and variegated with one more guitar layer by Andrii Brahin.

The result of almost orchestral instrumental consist is the bright exciting trip across five different continents, the first of which is under name "Parachute". In it all the traditions of times, when spellbound youth came out of London UFO are heard: performing of Izdryk’s poetry totally inherits the "Astronomy Domine’s" vocal manner, though instrumental side of "Parachute" is original and literally multifaceted composition. The song is already included to the compilation of Ukrainian underground "Robustfellow Sampler 2018" released by Robustfellow lable.

Track "Fantastic, Mr. Hopkins!" gives the opportunity to take a break from the abundance of previous composition and mostly is guitar motives chasing the synths.

The third song "Три чорні хвилі" ("Three black waves") is interesting for the reason of acquaintance with original band’s lyrics which says not much but is called to create the mood of fair mystery without any need to be solved.

Modified during the recording "Escapology" subdued the members’ will by taking inside new melodies and making musicians learn it afterwards as new one. It is easy and difficult simultaneously, with passages to the new sound and coming back to the already mastered one.

Album’s ending is totally in power of classical piano sounds, that come to the fore setting the theme to the whole "Hatbox moment" track, disappearing sometimes but constantly promising to be back again.

The album came off holistic but in no way monotonous. It must be improperly to say that La Horsa Bianca members heard enough of "right" music but impossible to pick up other words. Let them, as said, be "foolish ginkgo, fluttering between usual Ukrainian apple trees and spruces" only with a remark this ginkgo does know the wind of which era wavers it, this ginkgo paved its way on the trail of predecessors and breathes the air of passed days’ freedom. These passed days slowly start to become myth for the younger generations, but, maybe, this is the reversible process, La Horsa Bianca?  

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La Horsa Bianca в соцсетях:

https://lahorsabianca.bandcamp.com/
https://fb.com/lahorsabianca
https://instagram.com/lahorsabianca
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUgWeOFjOzVzfcg8uIiNNjg