СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) - Krok (2025 Mr Bongo Vinyl LP)

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) - Krok | Vinyl LP - 2025 Mr Bongo (MRBLP318, Optimal Media GmbH)

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) formed in Minsk, Belarus, drawn to the sound of 1970s Música Popular Brasileira and the jazz-pop tradition of non-English-speaking pop music. In early 2022, composer, arranger and vocalist Alex Chumak and original members Mikita Arlou and Anton Nemahai joined tens of thousands of Belarusians leaving the country following political repression. Resettling in Warsaw, the band released Force of the Wind (2022) on Mr Bongo to considerable international attention. By the time they began work on Krok, Chumak had relocated further, to São Paulo. The core sessions were recorded there direct to tape by Sessa and Biel Basile at Estúdio Cosmo, with Brazilian musicians Sessa, Biel Basile and Marcelo Cabral. Chumak then added Rhodes parts at Sven Wunder's studio in Stockholm, and string and woodwind arrangements written by Chumak and Polish musician Albert Karch were recorded at Polish Radio Studio S4 in Warsaw. Tim Bernardes, the Brazilian singer-songwriter, co-wrote and sings on "Lingua Do Mundo" (A2). Manami Kakudo guests on the closing "Смак жыцця" (B4).

"Krok" means "step" in Belarusian — and the title track was the first song Chumak wrote in Belarusian as an adult, choosing to move away from Russian, which functions as a lingua franca in many post-Soviet countries. The nine pieces move between folk balladry, jazz-driven pop, cinematic library music and soft-focus AOR without ever settling into any single frame. "Cichi Karahod" opens with acoustic guitar and bass in a near-Pat Metheny register before transitioning into jazz-folk territory. "Voo Livre" references Alessandro Alessandroni in its choir and woodwind writing. The album is thematically unified by its title: every track is in some sense about the act of taking a step forward in conditions of uncertainty. Mr Bongo MRBLP318, pressed at Optimal Media GmbH, tip-on sleeve with printed inner.