Immediately after the New Year, we reviewed an excellent compilation from the RusZud label that brought together a large number of psy-dub and ambient experiments from Moscow’s environs and beyond.  One of the label’s founding members, Rivak, announced at the time that he’d be stepping down from responsibilities at RusZud and beginning a solo project; the fruits of those labors are now on display as an EP from Divided Harmonics with the title “Totally Hallelujah.”  It can be downloaded for free from various locations.

Rivak’s work with Divided Harmonics ran parallel with RusZud for almost a year.  Now, as he says, “We’re working in a direction that could be defined as psychedelic-cosmic-ambient-dub.  We’re always glad of the chance to work with expressive singers or musicians; people who are ready to experiment along the same lines as us.”  There’s obviously a strict managerial principle here: “You’re free to experiment as you wish, as long as it’s what we’re doing”.

This same proud defence of a given aesthetic may scare off those singers, because - at the moment - we’ve got no bona fide vocals, just a series of sampled monologs.

There are four main types of sound bite here, all are associated with the theme of communication - which is alos the name of the opening track.  We’ve got lo-fi samples from an intercom conversation, seemingly between cosmonauts; the call of whales to one another across huge oceanic expanses; shamanistic throat-singing from Russia’s overlap with Asian territory; American theories of alien contact with the Caucasus Mountains; and a snippet from the screenplay of Tarkovsky’s “Stalker.”

In translation this reads: “Well, you were talking about the meaning of… our… existence… about the disinterestedness of art.  Well, let’s take music.  It’s less connected with reality than other art forms… or, more accurately, it is connected, but without any kind of ideology, in a purely mechanical way - through empty sounds.  Without direct associations.  Yet for all that, music in some miraculous fashion penetrates our very soul!  What is it inside us that resonates with a sound that’s summoning us towards harmony?”

“What turns that sound into a source of enjoyment’s very essence?  And merges us with that essence?!  And amazes us, too?!  What, in a word, is the point of it all?  And, even more importantly, who needs it?  You’ll tell me that nobody needs it.  And that there’s no point to it all.  You’ll tell me with that same ‘disinterest.’  No… it can’t be like that…  After all, when all’s said and done, everything has a meaning.  It all has a meaning and a cause, too…”

These nationally famous words have been used by other musicians: similar quotes from “Stalker” have, for example, certainly appeared in past recordings by I Am Above on the Left.  Although radically different in style from Divided Harmonics, I Am Above also work without clear-cut structures, building walls of sound that, when heavily layered, operate on the edge of drone.  This lack of discernible units or rhythmic building blocks starts to approach a state, rather than a process.  Possible parallels suggest themselves with Tarkovsky’s work at the time of “Stalker,” for the following reason.

His composer, Eduard Artem’ev, has spoken explicitly of the kind of soundtrack the director wanted in order to contextualize and enhance these ideas.  Artem’ev recalls that “Tarkovsky was very interested in Zen Buddhism [at this time], and wanted the music [of “Stalker”] to reflect certain contemplative elements that are part of Eastern religion and philosophy.  To achieve this quality, I borrowed from the Indian classical tradition of using a single basic tonality, whose rhythmic patterns are slowly and constantly changing, creating a background over which the melody of a solo instrument can soar.”

The role of those soaring, solo instruments here is placed by the lonely spoken sound bites.  They, as mentioned, as isolated cosmonauts, whales, or shamans, are attempting a form of interaction denied them by concrete social structures, since they’ve turned to a worldview of disinterestedness in order to begin a better dialog.

It’s remarkable that Divided Harmonics would use the call of whales here, since less than 24 hours ago, by pure chance we were busy with new recordings by Lviv’s Dalai Lama, who also channel a great deal of Buddhist thought into a Ukrainian rock tradition. Given the role that rock music played in the Orange Revolution and the new wave of social protest that’s brewing in that nation, it’s fascinating to see six young men shift the relationship between music and politics to the presumed benefits of a more “disinterested” ideology.

Recent cynicism has prompted a break between music and elections - and transferred it to a marriage of music with Tarkovsky’s endless questions.  The lead singer of Dalai Lama has also declared an interest in whales since his youngest years, which - on occasion - has led to a passion for collecting books on the subject.  The lonely, languid music of whale-calls strikes a special resonance in distant cities.

There’s a general shift, therefore, from the confident statements of politically-driven pop to the kind of unassuming outlook that we hear from Divided Harmonics today: “New tunes will appear soon…  be patient )) More psy-stuff, more experience, more music…”  Ellipses replace full stops; processes replace confidently concluded declarations.

This week the Russian press has been documenting the unwillingness of many oligarchs to surrender their yachts and enormous houses, even after they’ve been decimated by a downturn in the stock market.  Russia has enjoyed over five hundred years of contact with Buddhism, one of the core tenets of which is that life, in essence, is characterized by suffering - but that same pain will end with the cessation of greed and desire.  Freedom and communication with greater truths become possible after desire stops.

One little Buddha seems ready to tell people in high places, as soon as the sun comes up and the workday begins.

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