- The Russian producer's eerie new effort smudges his ambient jungle into complete abstraction.
- You can only glean so much about an album's tracks from its cover. Nonetheless, looking at Posle Vsego alongside the other records in Hoavi's discography tells you all you need to know about what sets it apart from its predecessors. The art that adorned last year's stellar Invariant embraced abstract fluorescence. Its follow-up, Music For Six Rooms, showcased a precious illustration of an inviting house. Even his debut Phobia Airlines, with its minimal drawing of a grounded jet, looks downright ornate next to the muted cover of Posle Vsego. Featuring nothing on its jacket but a subtle gray gradient, the fourth full-length from the enigmatic Russian producer swaps the lush ambient jungle of his usual music for layered washes of analog synthesis and oblique field recordings. It's the most austere and withdrawn music from Hoavi to date, fittingly released in the dead of a dreary winter.
Kirill Vasin launched his Hoavi project in 2018 with a sound that was simultaneously retro and cutting-edge. His bleary sonics are well suited for a solitary late night drive spent reminiscing about banging parties attended long ago. After laying low for a few years, Vasin returned in 2021 with Invariant and Music For Six Rooms, the former of which was so special that the elusive Los Angeles label Peak Oil broke a two-year hiatus to put it out.
Before Posle Vsego, Hoavi's sound was distinct—warm keys tended to rest atop grooves so serpentine they dominated his work, which was occasionally stripped to nothing but misty, elongated droning. Although sparse arrangements are nothing new for Hoavi, even his most understated earlier tracks (like "Sosnovka Voices" and "Transition State") feel straight-up flashy compared to the eerie soundscaping that defines his latest. On "Shuvalvo," noisy pads cast a queasy glow over samples of birds chirping. "Mercenary" uses a faint kick to add a swelling pulse to side-chained keys. "Ne Opomnitsja" is the closest thing the record contains to a standard Hoavi rhythm, centered on a ping-ponging rhythm and faded synth stabs. The three albums that came before this one played like pristine takes on early IDM, but Posle Vsego is more akin to a release from West Mineral Ltd.
It's cool to hear Hoavi's work stripped to the bare minimum, but this is also his least inviting record so far. "Perfect Darkness" lives up to its name, thanks to a musical palette that brings to mind the screech of a strong gust of wind, while "Kalanchoe In" evokes a disquieting walk through a nocturnal forest. The record affirms Hoavi's dexterity, but it also suffers, slightly, from its lack of rich, colorful compositions.
Posle Vsego came to life over the course of seven years, between 2013 and 2020. The patience that went into the recording process shines through and keeps it from coming across as just a Huerco S. type beat. Instead, the album presents an intriguing new side to Hoavi. It feels just a bit like it should have been put out as a side project and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready for the return of atmospheric bliss and jazzy chords to his music. With that said, Posle Vsego captures the essence of frigid loneliness. It summons the image of sitting in an abandoned research station in some rocky patch of tundra, a solid addition to an already singular catalog.
Tracklist01. Posle Vsego
02. Ne Opomnitsja
03. Kalanchoe In
04. Marschat
05. Mercenary
06. Metro I Mysli
07. Part 3
08. Perfect Darkness
09. Shuvalovo
10. Uuncontr
11. Winds