ab & xmz II.

by Andrei Turusinov, REZULTATY magazine, October 2009

 

Ilya Khmyz and Anton Batagov have released a second album together. Honestly speaking, this came as a complete surprise for me as the first album seemed to be a thing in itself, a finished work that demanded no continuation whatsoever. Well, apparently, the two musicians' communication during the recording was so interesting, their mutual understanding so complete, that it was simply impossible to resist the temptation to experience the pleasure once again.

It's difficult to say whose contribution to the first album was greater – Ilya's or Anton's – but on this second disk, in my opinion, it is Batagov who predominates . This recording shows a clear minimum in the use of sounds and timbres, a sparseness in the textures and moods, a deepening of the inward gaze, and a detached meditativeness. The first album was bright and luxuriantly lyrical, openly optimistic in mood, while the second is monochromatic, contemplatively calm, and full of internal knowledge. However, this is not any kind of contradiction, but simply two different perspectives on how things are in this world. This difference is deliberately reflected in the graphic design of the disks: the first – bright and colourful, the second – strict and black-and-white.

To say that this is good music and to insist that all who read these lines must give it a hearing – I will not do. I will simply repeat once more that no-one else in Russia, or very likely anywhere, is writing and recording such music. The albums have been produced and their further lives almost no longer belong to their authors. Our concern: in order not to let this music fall into obscurity, we must listen to it.