Although active since 2012, the Moscow-based experimental post-punk duo Сад [sad band], made up of Dmitry Listopadov & Archibald Alexandrovich, struggled to find and maintain a degree of continuity by publishing a dozen of singles, of which possibly the most representative were among 2016 and 2017 (‘Беги’ and ‘Разбитый человек’), interspersed with long breaks.
Amid anguish, desperation and glimpses of hope, the band had reached almost to the point of no return, and then, fortunately, to retrace their own footsteps, apparently, with renewed enthusiasm and conviction, a possible full debut album seems in progress, delivering, after a little more than a year and a half, the brand new 2-track single ‘Кометы / Comets’, which proves all the pair’s distinctive knack for mixing diverse elements from post-punk, minimal wave, darkwave and coldwave, to create intense, decadent and obscure sonic waves through cold and evocative synth lines, penetrating sharp guitar chords, hypnotic rhythms and suffering and melancholic vocalizations in the best tradition of Soviet bands, as always enriched by introspective lyrics with a strong emotional impact.
It’s the synth-laden “Здесь / Here” that gets my attention, triggers by neat steady drum beats, amid flashing and buzzing wavering bassline that loops underneath icy desolate deep airy synth flows, alternate to glowing and tinkling arpeggiated sequences, that mournfully swell and sway shrouding the barren wasteland of a devastated soul embodied by deep detached male vocals fraught with severe malaise, falling into the shadows of darkness.
Almost simultaneously one half of Сад, Archibald Alexandrovich, debuted with a new project along with Egor Yudakov, called Proshay, via the six-track mini-album ‘Posmotri kak vipal sneg’, toeing the line between post-punk, darkwave and coldwave, equally dark and somberly melancholic, definitely to listen to.
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