If you are aware of Staraya derevnya's previous releases, you'll know that these guys do not fit into a typical genre-mould even for leftfield, world, ambient, drone: and that doesn't cover most of it!
For a psychedelic/kraut-folk collective based in London, Tel Aviv and Ciudad Juarez that recorded these tracks in London in 2022 and added further recordings during 2023-4 in Isael, Mexico, Bulgaria and the UK, the seven track 'concept' of 'Garden Window Escape' is akin to a escape from a dark space as seen by, say, Pere Ubu's 'Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi', Ivor Cutler, Can, Café Oto on a wet and rainy Tuesday night and lets throw in Gong for good measure.
And if that doesn't tweak your interest, check the line up: Gosha Hniu (cries and whispers, wheel lyre, marching band kazoo, percussion and objects), Maya Pik (synthesizer, flute, drum machine), Ran Nahmias (silent cello, santur, oud) Grundik Kasyansky (feedback synthesizer
Miguel Pérez (guitars), Yoni Silver (bass clarinet) and Andrea Serafino on drums.
When I say dark, 'Half-deceased uncle' is not an easy listen, you might even say disturbed it's depiction of a swarm of flies increasingly gowing mad is one of the highlights of the album for it's 12 minutes of backroom (very backroom) unsafe avant-garde trance.
I'm no linguist so I can't tell you what language the spoken style vocal is in, is it a homage to Magma? 'Onwards, through the garden window' and 'What I keep in my closet' are a mixture of poem with jazzy-dreamscape. And for fans of more 'traditonal' prog-psych, 'Tight-lipped thief' (the most Ubu of the seven tracks), 'Virtue of standing still' (is that a old bicycle horn?) and 'Cork flight operation' are in similar plane crash style anarchy.
These guys must be great live. I'd love to hear a full on jazz blow up of 'Virtue of standing still' for a starter. So, not everyone's cup of tea but for future building blocks for the like of Ben Sun (see review HERE), Sun Sone (see interview HERE) or could we even say, Marshall Allen (see HERE), this is a band that need to be heard.
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