Belarusian post-punk band Molchat Doma was when they finished writing 鈥淏elaya Polosa.鈥� The view from Los Angeles may have been sunnier, but the brooding trio maintained the dark reflections of challenging times in their homeland for the release.
The album continues their clear stylings of dark wave music from decades past. It also pays homage and reinvents the genre ever so slightly while offering up a pleasing, if bleak, landscape.
So, what does Molchat Doma sound like? They sound like everything a 20-year-old in 1987 with an asymmetric haircut and an aging VW Scirocco would listen to. All parts synth-pop, dark wave and a whisper of goth blended together into a dramatic tornado of minor chord progressions.
The band came to wider consciousness where their 鈥淩ussian doomer鈥� sound, as it has been labeled, became a kind of meme, reinstating an interest in all things goth. The extended result was a new and growing interest in a band that could put this much heart into a familiar sound, newly reimagined.
Molchat Doma leads off with 鈥淭y Zhe Ne Znaesh Kto Ya,鈥� which translated means 鈥淵ou Don鈥檛 Know Who I Am.鈥� A steady percussion gives way to aggressive synthesizer stabs. Lead singer Egor Shkutko sells it all well, as he fills the lyrics with emotion, translated here into English: 鈥淗ands trembling/I uncontrollably grasp the pen/Maybe it鈥檚 necessary, maybe it鈥檚 not worth it.鈥�
Industrial tracks make up the bulk of the album, and 鈥淪on鈥� offers a nice departure from the form. It is textured with deft reverb guitar work; Mazzy Star-esque with busier percussion.
The title track, 鈥淏elaya Polosa,鈥� is adjacent to any slow song from The track has so many layers, and is so wonderfully delivered, it feels elevated. On this, the band moves from past personal stagnation toward an exciting but uncertain future, as they explain in the liner notes.
Casual listeners be warned. All the vocals are in Russian. But somehow this feels accessible and transcendent of the language barrier that exists for non-speakers.
Molchat Doma is talented, 鈥淏elaya Polosa鈥� is expertly mixed and the brooding approach is handled with care. This is good gloom.
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Ron Harris, The Associated Press
