OR   Search for Artist/Title    Advanced Search
 
you are not logged in...  [login] 
All Reviews    Edit This Review     
Review: 'SILENCE KIT'
'SILENCE KIT'   

-  Album: 'SILENCE KIT' -  Label: 'SILENCE KIT'
-  Genre: 'Post-Rock' -  Release Date: 'MAY 2003'-  Catalogue No: 'SKCD 0001'

Our Rating:
Wow. 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.
  author: TIM PEACOCK

[Show all reviews for this Artist]

READERS COMMENTS    10 comments still available (max 10)    [Click here to add your own comments]

There are currently no comments...
----------



SILENCE KIT - SILENCE KIT