Just when I was almost in desperate need of an inspiring song for my usual daily feature, my friend Krzysztof, clever creator of The Eastern European Synth & Post-Punk Community, came to the rescue with a single, from a few weeks ago, by a Russian bedroom synth duo based in Moscow, called ХВОРЬ / HVOR, active since the beginning of the year with a string of singles, the last one, released right in these days, is the fifth.
What intrigues me the most anyway is the previous one, from what I understand, composed in due to COVID precarious conditions with a stripped-down instrumental setup, but you know, it is precisely in the restlessness that the best results are obtained.
While the band ironically claim “watch how Dima and Ksenia conquer synth-pop without leaving the room”, “Льна / Flax” is a well-crafted heartfelt mix of early 80s French synthpop and coldwave melancholic moods with minimal wave starkness, peppered by seductive sad melodies and a heap of excruciating Russian gloom.
Lyric-wise the tune is about a woman that turns to her dreams to take shelter from the lonely abandonment of her barren life.
Hypnotically sequenced wavering bassline pulses ceaselessly along with taut, dry mid-tempo beats, punctuated by resonant forlorn glowing synth melodies, to radiate ripples of sorrow around lethargic tormented female vocals, burdened by low hopeless male baritone, that drag in helpless anguish, until an achingly ghostly break takes a sudden shift to release dramatically palpitating lustrous textures, pierced in icy trickling synth stabs to push the hellish lifeless momentum forward.
Keep up with ХВОРЬ / HVOR:
