A remarkable and unusual record, IWKC is the work of Evil Bear Boris, a Moscow-based collective which features at least ten members, alongside the Gnesin State Musical College Choir. The music is epic, cinematic and ever-evolving (especially the lengthy first track), taking in sights and sounds that are rarely covered in contemporary music. Beautifully mixed by Vladislav Ponomarenko, who captures every nuance of the band’s sound, IWKC defies classification and simply is a wonderful piece of music that deserves to be heard.
Opening with the epic-length Point Of No Return, a twenty-three minute track that opens briefly as John Carpenter and Depeche Mode covering Pink Floyd and ELO, before turning really weird, IWKC is definitely not a record with mainstream consumption on its mind. There’s so much to take in, that it’s hard to even know where to start with a review… hell, I’m not even sure I should review this, given the volatile nature of the music contained within. The closest comparison I can give is the wonderful soundtrack work of Henry Mancini and, as the band explore a multitude of jazz-based themes, it’s impossible not to recall a childhood spent watching those cartoons, the music doing a far better job of conveying the action of the piece than dialogue ever could. As the music progresses, other flashpoints emerge – a touch of Barry Adamson around the six-minute-mark, aspects of Clint Mansell at around nine minutes – it’s a work of sweeping, symphonic majesty and it evokes emotion and imagination in equal measure across a runtime that barely registers on the consciousness. In contrast to the monstrous ebb and flow of Point Of No Return, Alles Unter Kontrolle is a positively svelte six-and-a-half minutes in length, although the band use the time well, opting for a taut, piano-led piece anchored by the inventive percussion of Nikita Samarin. Even shorter is Ned Hoper, a nimble, string-augmented piece that sounds like Dream Theater (at their most restrained) playing with a string section. Sure-footed yet light of touch, it’s a summery piece that shimmers in the sunlight thanks to Andrey Silin’s wide-eyed synth work.
After the light footwork of Ned Hoper, the noirish Keine Rationale Erklarung is a short, yet disturbing piece of music that evokes images of hard-boiled detectives and streets wreathed in steam from gushing manhole covers. Uncomfortable listening, and yet an impossible piece from which to tear yourself, it plunges the listener into the frenetic jazz-punk-art-noise assault of The Music Will Play In Your House But You Won’t Hear It. A devastating maelstrom of noise that recalls early Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca and Swans; it slowly reconstitutes itself as an echoing coda that sees the album out with some truly mesmerising work form the brass section (led by Ramil Mulikov on the trumpet). It caps an album quite unlike anything you’ve ever heard before – a work of art that consistently captivates and stands a mile away from the disposable matter that issues forth from the mainstream.
IWKC is not an album to review. It is an album to experience. The music surrounds the listener, beckoning them into a world hitherto only glimpsed in dreams. Beautifully recorded and perfectly played, it is a remarkable piece of music that is genuinely cinematic in scope and it is quite exceptional. 9.5/10
