Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, cinematographic.
Background/Info: Lesa Listvy (Леса Листвы) is a Russian ambient collective featuring 4 members. After having self-released an album in 2017 they now joined hands with Cryo Chamber to unleash their official debut album. They’re inspired by Russian nature, but still by other subjects such as different lands and melancholic landscapes.
Content: “Way Home” is resonating somewhere in between pure cinematographic- and dark-ambient music. We’re rapidly moving towards obscure sounds, which now and then have something ritual. The work is accomplished by multiple little noises while they are also using slow rhythms and drones. The work is progressively evolving featuring subtle arrangements, echoing sounds and deep vibrations.
+ + + : “Way Home” is not a classical dark-ambient production and that’s precisely what I like. It has something very personal and I dare to say intimate, like an imaginary symbiosis between the musicians and the nature they’ve been inspired by. But it’s not a peaceful production as Lesa Listvy stands for darkness. I was impressed by the impressive sound and noise arsenal they’ve been using to accomplish this work. The title track is a pure masterpiece in the genre. The progression of this track is absolutely remarkable and revealing the great writing skills of the musicians.
– – – : I had to listen several times to the album to really get into it. It’s not exactly the most classical and I dare to say ‘easy’ music production so you have to be patient and simply let the music grown on you.
Conclusion: I can’t speak about an absolute successful production, but it’s a noticeable work with a real sensitive and intimate approach. Dark-ambient can be so much more than simply scaring listeners.
Best songs: “Way Home”, “Reflection”, “Lost Compass”, “Evening By The Lake”.
Rate: (7½).
Artist: www.facebook.com/lesalistvyLabel: www.cryochamberlabel.com / www.facebook.com/CryoChamber
About Lesa Listvy
Lesa Listvy (Леса Листвы) is a dark-ambient collective from Moscow, made up of Daniil Sheremet, Dmitriy Ryazantsev, Stanislav Smirnov and Armenak Voskanyan. The group self-released its debut album in 2017 before signing to Cryo Chamber for “Way Home”, and contributed to the label’s 2020 Lovecraft-themed various-artist collaboration “Yig”, reviewed on Side-Line, alongside later albums including “Tsathoggua” (2022) and “Juk-Shabb” (2024).
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
