Gdeva- Bubbles, Bubbles…
(R.A.I.G R025)
From Aural Innovations #38 (Jan 2008)
Formed in 2005 in St. Petersburg, Russia, the instrumental trio GDeVA, Andrei
Petrov on guitar, Valery Berestov on bass and Alexander Kravtsov on drums, specialise
in a totally improvised sound that draws from both the psychedelic and progressive
rock genres. Bubbles, Bubbles... is their first album
Creative to the extreme, the three musicians function very well together, fashioning
a sound at once muscular and arresting, but also brooding and atmospheric. Rather
than relying on supporting each other soloing, they create the music in a synergy
of all three of them, their instruments weaving in and around each other. Petrov
gets some really intriguing tones for his guitar, providing much of the more
atmospheric elements of the music, while Berestov’s and Kravtsov’s
rhythm section lean more towards the throbbing, brawny side of their sound.
But each musician meets the other in the middle for a nice balance. The standout
track for me was the nearly 19-minute long Winter Song, which, as the title
would suggest, begins with icy atmospherics: freaky echoing guitar flickering
and flowing around random bass notes and softly clattering cymbals. A slow and
ominous rhythm emerges, with Petrov pulling off guitar reminiscent of early
Gilmour Floyd experiments. But it builds ever so slowly, meandering through
snowy fields, working into an impressive jam, often melodic, at occasional points
dipping into more avant-garde and experimentally icy waters. Great stuff! Other
tracks on the album range in length from 4 ½ to 13 ½-minutes,
giving the band time to stretch out and explore their sound without compromise.
Dark, challenging, but always listenable, GDeVA brings a welcome new sound to
the improvisation scene. The band claims to never play the same piece twice,
so I’m glad the five pieces on this album were captured for posterity
in all their raw, unadorned and original intensity.
Check the band's web sites at: http://www.raig.ru/gdeva.asp
or http://www.realmusic.ru/gdeva/
Check out the record label site at: http://www.raig.ru
Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald