Music can help make meaning of seismic events and when they co-exist the impact is profound. Kyiv-based composer and electronic musician Oleh Shpudeiko aka Heinali has lived within the Russian invasion of his country since the war began, documenting in soundscapes the devastation and hope, despair and elation of the everyday experience. From May to October this year he live streamed a series of performances from a bunker in Lviv. Later compiled digitally and released as ‘Live From A Bomb Shelter in Ukraine’ on Injazero, this extraordinarily uplifting long form piece seemed to rise above the most difficult of circumstances
Now as time moves by and the war moves on, Shpudeiko announces his equally important forthcoming release, the album Kyiv Eternal, available once again via Injazero Records on 24th February. A tribute to his resilient capital city, the record sets out to capture the feelings of its citizens while the area clung onto freedom. As Heinali remembers ‘It was as if the city was alive, breathing. We wanted to hug it, to protect every inch of it from harm‘.
Part field recordings, part a reworking of previous ambient sketches the album’s emotional power and political edge looks set to highlight the significance of Heinali’s music to the wider world. The title-track which previews the upcoming full release does more than back up such a prediction. Elemental sound snatches, tidal synth waves, foundation shaking basslines and torrential, melodic tumbles, Kyiv Eternal develops with the spiritual gusto that is essential to any music which aims to bring light to the darkest days.
Heinali’s previous albums Anthem (2017) and Iridescent (2018) may have quivered with evocative ambience but with the integrity and intensity of the complete Kyiv Eternal overture, this highly interpretive artist is clearly taking his music to another level.
Pre-order your copy of ‘Kyiv Eternal’ by Heinali from your local record store or direct from: https://heinali.bandcamp.com/album/kyiv-eternal
