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'SILENCE KIT'
- Album: 'SILENCE KIT' - Label: 'SILENCE KIT'
- Genre: 'Post-Rock' - Release Date: 'MAY 2003'- Catalogue No: 'SKCD 0001'
This is your reviewer's first summit meeting with Moscow's magnificent post-rockers SILENCE KIT and he can't wait to share his findings with you.
Available via the band's website (www.silencekit.narod.ru ) on their won label, this eponymous 7-track album clocks in at a luxurious 47 minutes, but there's precious little waste or excess during the course of this seamless, enchanting listen.
We'll get down to business in a moment, but first a few facts: SILENCE KIT are five in all: Feodor Dmitriev (vocals, guitar); Boris Belov (guitars - including ghost guitars!); Sergei Bogatov (bass); Andrey Gavrilov (synths, organ and piano) and drummer Gregoriy Alexanyan. They are joined by occasional guests like "noise scratch" player Mikhail Belov, but together they are a formidable unit who intertwine wonderfully undulating melodies with harsher textures.
Opening track "Transmiss To Fades" looms into view with a Moog symphony that morphs into a planet-sized overture akin to Tangerine Dream until it explodes with the sound of the rocket taking off. It's a great scene-setter, and I imagine it would sound great as intro music to Silence Kit's live show.
The music really kicks in with second track "Twenty Eight + 2". Despite the title, this is too engaging to be referred to as Math rock. It's all descending lines and unhurried textures. Dmitriev's vocals casually make their presence felt several minutes in and the band carry the tune out with some fine fanfare melody horns from Gavrilov's keyboards. Excellent.
"Francesca White" is initially more traditionally 'song'-based indie fare, though it bristles with Wedding Present-style guitar input and meanders off down a separate melodic avenue before it fades.
"Lunik" and "Lunik: Ceremony" form a magnificent suite, in the best possible usage of the word, with the majestic melody lines intertwining beautifully and rising to a stunning climax as "Ceremony" scales its' ultimate sonic peaks. "Soul Departure" keeps the heat on with urgency aplenty and open, ringing guitar lines, Peter Hook-ish melody work from Bogatov and bursts of pure power from Alexanyan behind the kit.
Brilliantly, however, Silence Kit keep their finest work in reserve for last. "Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear/ No=Fear" is every bit as epic as its' title suggests. And twice as gripping. The first section is a power play from the entire band, with Gavrilov spurred on to symphonic heights. It collapses in a huge vat of white noise and analogue misinformation, only to rise like the celebrated phoenix and set up a tense, edgy, guitar-driven finale that truly shreds the listener's nerves, before ultimately letting you float away on clouds of electric piano. Brathtaking, in a word.
"Silence Kit" is the key to a world of mystery, passion, intrigue and musical muscle all this Moscow band's very own. Silence Kit must not remain an unknown quantity for long.
From "IF E-zine - Music Without Genres"
Ratingг: +++++
Artist: Silence Kit
Title: Silence Kit
Email: silencekit@mail.ru
As if I even needed to justify the things I say, here is another Russian band who are good. Actually, "Silence Kit" are very good and despite their slightly erratic nature I think they're going to be easier to describe than "Lumeny".
Essentially Silence Kit are a rock band but to stop there would do them a great disservice. True, some tracks, like "Francesca White" are almost straight pop rock but others, such as "Twenty Eight + Two" and "Lunik" show off a songwriting talent that is almost unbelievable. "Twenty Eight + Two" is particularly impressive, starting out as a simple ambient piece on keyboards and drums and gradually growing over seven minutes to include the full band for a wall of sound ending and the CD's closer, "Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear/No = Fear" really has to be heard to be believed (It may be fourteen minutes long but that doesn't make the number of changes packed into it any less amazing!).
Other bands reflected in this music are "Mogwai", "The Cure", "Slint" and lots more I can't place. Influences aren't important though when you write music this good.
FROM "ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS"
Once you get past the superfluous 5 minute long drone which opens the album, you discover a great band whose musical range spreads from noise-pop to post-rock endowed with a great propensity to creating appealing melodies which have something cold and restrained to them. This feeling is brilliantly illustrated by the building and its reflection in the austere front sleeve. Silence Kit comes from Moscow, Russia, and is probably named after a Pavement song but this influence is not overwhelming at all. You sure can feel this scanty noise-pop style in СFrancesca WhiteТ but the song is surprisingly catchy and happily head-bopping. Their noise-pop songs incline towards American noise-pop bands such as Pavement, Guided by Voices or Superchunk. СLunikТ is a great song endowed with pleasant slow-paced melancholy arpeggios but unfortunately the agitated part is disappointing not because of the quality of the passage but because of its distortions that sound 4-track. SK likes long introductions and you often get the impression of 2 songs melted in 1 track, which is backed up by the titles (С28+2Т, СObjects in the mirror are closer than they appear / No=FearТ, the short and catchy instrumental entitled СSoul DepartureТ sounds like an intro to the final epic track.). They worked on sequences, which makes the listening easier and gives a bonus to the post-rock formula they picked up in their Chicagoan, Glasgowian, or even Canadian listening: begin slowly, then build-up some tension by gradations and either let your energy explode in cathartic noise or stop the song right when youТve reached the climax.There is something high-sounding about the mid-tempo СLunik CeremonyТ which evokes classical music as well as Canadian influence (and Ennio Morricone) we shall not discuss hereЕ but thereТs a bright dimension in the ending which sounds like the music to a movie scene when the hero finally sees the light at the end of the tunnel or just rescues his beloved. Silence Kit often improves its post-rock songs adding discreet synth or piano sounds and adding vocals where you donТt expect them (СTwoТ would have sounded too emphatic in a GYBE way without the vocals).
The last song is an epic change of moods alternating peaks and valleys during nearly 15 minutes: atmospheric, hypnotic, emphatic, then white noise chaos lingers during 2 minutes and the second part (СNo=fearТ) starts with cryptic arpeggios that give way to tension. Then sadness comes as late night anxiety attacks, late night alcoholic thoughts when the vocals reappear again much to everyoneТs surprise in an indolent English fashion that might be reminiscent of Ride for example. An expected final explosion closes the album..
Silence Kit is encrusted with an overall good sense of melody. It is definitely one of the best self-released material we have received so far. You may download the whole album from their website and as they put it: Сwhen you pirate mp3s, youТre downloading communismЕТ
FROM "UNDERGROUND"
SILENCE KIT - Self Titled
The masters of ambient psychedelic rock have arrived!! Moscow's Silence Kit are like Joy Division meets King Crimson meets Syd Barrett! They start off with a feedback symphony from hell before the dark haunting of "Twenty Eight + Two". It's like the beginning of that @25 trip you've always wanted to take. Throughout this album they build slow throughout the songs with simple sequences and lots of mood in ambiece, and distorted guitars. Some ringing, some harmonic, some power chords. When they come in with the vocals, things take an art punk type of stance, like maybe Johnny Rotten and the boys out ravin' with the lovelies. Silence Kit use brass horns, big hall reverbs and subsonic spatials to wave an engrossing web of sound. They definitely have alot of darkwave and eurobrood influences, as well as more structured classical, modular formats. It's sometimes a hard listen, thigs get very loud and chaotic, but Silence Kit use that to their benefit and on this overall disc they come off as trend setting aristocrats of the noise genre. They're at their best on the most way out stuff. A bit of very early Pink Floyd shines through on psychoactive material such as "Lunik". Silence Kit learned well, and have brought that kind of vibe well into the 21st century. One can see the gel light shows melting away. Listen to the feedback symphonics of "Lunik: Ceremony", can you see the images?
FROM "LEONARD'S LAIR"
Silence Kit - Silence Kit
From Russia, a fabulous album that would have the UK rock press sailvating if it were a British product. Silence Kit's eponymous 2002 debut is a record that deserves a wide audience. Events commence in eerie but ominous fashion with the instrumental 'Transmiss To Fades' but then the modern post-punk threat of 'Twenty Eight And Two' featuring a thrilling guitar rhythm, clattering percussion and a ghostly vocal. 'Francesca White' is leaner, rawer; evocative of Sonic Youth in their mid-80s pomp. After the doleful lo-fi rock of 'Lunik' the second half is occupied with the dynamic post-rock that Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai used to do so well; here it's revitalised via the triumphant 'Lunik: Ceremony' and the lengthy but surging melodies of 'Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear/No=Fear'. With a second album already out, international recognition seems long overdue.
FROM "CROSSOVER" (German Language)
SILENCE KIT: Silence Kit
von ta
(Eigenproduktion)
Aus Moskau kommt ein sublimer Vertreter der progressiven Rockmusik. Was Roland als die "russische Antwort auf Pink Floyd" bezeichnete, ist ein Stuck Musik von siebenundvierzig Minuten, Musik, die sich reduziert gibt und ernst, die oft unterkuhlt wirkt und fern, dabei mitnichten ein Fass ohne Boden figuriert. Irgendwo zwischen Boxenmembran und Innenohr schwebt stets ein latenter Hauch von zarter, gravitatischer Spharik, die jedoch das warme Pink Floyd-Element nur peripher zu suggerieren in der Lage ist. Stattdessen tastet man als Horer sich uber eine glatte, feste, manchmal sehr kalte Oberflache, die urplotzlich in Wallung gerat, aufzubrechen droht, um wieder in sich zu fallen. Silence Kit sind reserviert, instrumentallastig, gerne etwas langatmig, mogen keine ausufernden solistischen Ausfluge, setzen stattdessen auf massive Wiederholungstechniken und erweisen sich trotzdem als im hochsten Grade experimentell. Mag sein, dass eine grelle Sonne, durch eisige Kalte fahrend oder eine Nacht auf dem Roten Platz hilft, diese Musik zu verstehen. Vielleicht auch gerade das nicht. So braucht man als Horer den Mut, die Musik einzulassen, um sie sich zu erklaren. Wo der Sinn versteckt ist, muss man ihn suchen. Und diese Suche macht "Twenty Eight + Two" mit seiner sensiblen Atmosphare oder "Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear/ No= Fear" mit dem in der neunten Minute einsetzenden Gesang von Feodor Dmitriev zu kleinen Welten in einer gro?en, zu kleinen Erlebnissen in der Ganzheit der Erfahrung. Blo? konsumorientierten Horern mu? das zweifellos zu viel sein, Soundfetischisten konnten sich aufgrund der zwischen blechernen/hohenlastig (drums) und dumpf/krachig (git) pendelnden Produktion abwenden. Und ein Stuck wie "Francesca White", das so fast auch von den noisigen Pop-Punks Placebo stammen konnte, mag auch Prog-Rockern einiges abverlangen. Mir zum Beispiel. Doch was man hier sein muss, erfahrt man manchmal eben erst nach dem Horen. Offen zum Beispiel. Wohin wenden? Hierhin zum Beispiel: silencekit@mail.ru
FROM "SATELLITEPOP" (Spanish Language)
SILENCE KIT
Desde la estetica del ruido llegan SILENCE KIT. Ellos podrian dar perfecta cuenta de lo que supone el ruido en la musica experimental, con el Norte siempre bien colocado en su condicion de seguidores de MOGWAI.
Esta maqueta esta compuesta por siete temas que suponen todo un mazazo a la experimentacion desde el rock. Estas coordenadas dominan todas las canciones de la maqueta, salvo, inexplicablemente, el tercer corte, "Francesca White", donde no pasan de ser unos vulgares MUSE. No lo tomes como un error sino como un parentesis.
Recomendable sobre el resto es la parte final de la maqueta, con "Soul departure" y "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear / No = fear" donde elaboran a la perfeccion todo un tratado de guitarras afiladas en el momento y en el lugar adecuados. Ruido, ruido y mas ruido