You may not have heard of Variát before, but it is the newest musical project from Dmytro Fedorenko, who worked earlier as Kotra. He recently stopped his Kvitnu label and now only concentrates on making music. There is indeed a bit of change here. As for instruments, he currently lists guitar, bass, synthesizer and drums, whereas, in the old days, I would think it was all electronics (digital and/or analogue) and drum machines. What remained was his approach to sonic overload. Many of the releases by Kvitnu were indebted to the legacy of Pan Sonic. That is brutal beats and ditto synthesizers. That brutality is also present here, but now he’s using instruments. Maybe Variát plays these live, and perhaps these are sampled; most likely, I would say it is a combination of both. Take, for instance, ‘There’s Lot Of Light Leaking All Over’, in which loops of guitar noise and drums (and bass, no doubt) battle against a solitary non-looped organ. The information recalls the use of “blown amps, toms played with a hammer, and drilled cymbals”, all of which I can easily see within the context of this record. One of the things this record is not is a dance record. To be fairer, I would call this is a rock record. A noise rock record, to be precise. I like this a lot. The fact that Fedorenko makes a radical break with his past music, and yet, for all the brutal approach, at the same time, he stays completely in line with his past. I find that quite an achievement. The wall of noise rock approach with real instruments, treated with electronic devices, sampled and giving them more strength via sound effects, makes these eight pieces strong music statements. Music that needs to be played loud or not at all. There is simply nothing in between. There is no escape, and total surrender is required, but something beautiful will be yours. (FdW)
Great review on Variát from Vital Weekly
