Crossing the Steppe LP out now on Set Spaces.
Listen and order here
Swirnoff uses only acoustic instruments with subtle tape manipulation and the natural reverb of a large warehouse space to create a haunting atmosphere inspired by the terrain of the Great Steppe, the vast ecoregion connecting Europe to Asia, a mysterious winding trail that blurs our traditional boundaries of East/West. Detuned guitars, unidentified percussion, bells, hurdy gurdy, reed organ, kalimba, autoharp, double flutes, natural materials, vocalizations with breath and whistling, passing trains, running footsteps, insistent knocking an old wooden door, coalesce in a suite of intimate songs and interludes that evoke a fragile dreamlike state. It is the sonority of one faced with a momentous journey, whether internal or out on the open road.
The music exists somewhere between musique concrete and rural folk traditions, transporting the listener to a floating purgatory, a disorienting unmappable locale. Recommended for fans of The Nurse With Wound List, Roberto Musci, Jean Claude Vannier, Alvin Curran, AMM, This Heat, Harry Partch, or music from the Greek tragedy films of Pasolini.