- On her first solo EP in two years, the Moscow artist relishes in her UK influences, while retaining her beloved wintry sound.
- Yana Kedrina's entire catalog sounds like it's coated in snow. Her 2016 debut album as Kedr Livanskiy, January Sun, was the first entry point for this icy, introspective world, displaying her distinctively mellow vocals warped across breaks, bleeps and frosty, lo-fi pads. Earlier this year, Kedrina released her first album with fellow Moscow artist Flaty, Kosogor, where the duo winnowed out the beats of earlier records, opting instead for moody dream pop suited for saloons and ambient rooms. Kedrina owes this satisfyingly frigid sound partly to her collection of eccentric influences, which include Mazzy Star, Inga Copeland, Autechre and Aphex Twin. K-Notes, the artist's first EP in two years, sinks deeper into her UK influences, shuffling fluidly through atmospheric drum & bass, jungle and rave music.
Having grown up in the Russian countryside, Kedrina's music is as pastoral and wintry as her upbringing, and lyrically, her love for nature and the esoteric is transparent as ever. On K-Notes, she sings of the light of planets, distant summers and the threat of "black rain." Even her vocals sound windswept, generously swaddled in reverb and often caught in swirls of percussion. On the jungle-influenced "Kayf Mir," her falsetto rides a night wind of breakbeats, smeared further across Flaty's peacocking pads and slithering subs.
The first half of the EP should delight anyone with a robust subwoofer. Played at a reasonable volume, the woozy video game jungle of "With Love" rattled my counter top several times during the few weeks I spent listening to the project. The soft grunge aesthetic of the accompanying music video, which depicts a cloud passing a field and strangers-turned-lovers dancing on an empty road, sums up the playful nostalgia of K-Notes.
The B-side is where Kedrina, who is capable of sounding just inches away, or like she's shouting from a mountain, thrives among Eurodance kitsch. Over the crescendoing synths of "Stop This Way," Kedrina alternates between intimate Sprechstimme and pushing the limits of her upper register, as she shouts to a lover: "ahhhh, you're already an empty sound, ahhh!" If there's a moment of reprieve on the record, it would be on "Reflex People," where knocking breaks cut out, and her glissandi floats, isolated amid a wet-eyed, trancey atmosphere.
Tracklist01. With Love K
02. Kayf Mir
03. K-Notes
04. Reflex People
05. Stop This Way