Review Summary: Resilience and kindness.
Kharkiv. What a city! If there were more big cities like Kharkiv, the world would have been a better place. Not one of those concrete-and-steel megapolises where homo homini lupus est, but a gentle and hospitable giant. It does have a lot of these enormous brutalist-style buildings, but they are not cold and suffocating, just awe-inspiring. Alongside them, there are some of the biggest and most beautiful parks at least in Europe. There’s an alley with tall figures of giraffes, elephants, and other animals that glow with silver and golden lights at night. There’s the absolutely majestic Opera Theater and a lot of other sights to see. The streets of the city are pristinely clean, and all public transportation is free-of-charge for its guests and citizens since the beginning of the war by the decision of city council. True, Kharkiv is basically a front-line city since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022. There are anti-drone nets glittering in the skies above its streets, the air alarms are persistent, and the air defense crews can’t intercept everything that is thrown at the city, of course. Life is not easy in Kharkiv. During my last few job trips here, I could clearly see that the big guy is exhausted. But it still retains this omnipresent warm and friendly vibe, and its citizens are still enormously proud of their city and take care of it as best they can.
Kharkiv. The center of Ukrainian culture before the Second World War, a thriving city of merchants before the Russian invasion. It makes sense that one of the most interesting Ukrainian rock bands of the 2000s originated from Kharkiv. At a time when our pop music was mostly shallow and artless dross, and our rock bands produced competent but boring, uninspired and unoriginal material, Boombox had their own face, distinguishable sound, intelligent lyrics, and instantly recognizable voice of their frontman Andrii Khlyvniuk. They are classified as a hip-hop group sometimes, but I don’t think that’s correct. At its core, Boombox is a rock band, but its rock foundations are adorned with a healthy dose of samples, turntables, and funky rhythms. The problem is, Boombox has been lethargic for quite a while. I mean, of course since the war broke out, they’ve focused on volunteering and helping people, and Khlyvniuk served in the army for about half a year. But even before the big war, there was no new music released since 2019 and reduced touring activity. Now, the boys (and the bass guitar lady!) are finally back, gave their first couple of concerts in a long time, and rolled out some new songs, even if it’s just an EP.
Don’t worry, it’s not all about the war. I mean, the opening song “The Truth” kinda is, but it’s really not in your face and not about combat action at all. It is dedicated to the front-line medics and hospitallers treating the wounded on the battlefield. The brave medics are depicted in the song through a composite character of a wise and caring Captain, who is always on the lookout and always ready to extend a helping hand:
How long to study the winter mountains?
How to decipher enlightening signage?
Wisdom is not only in the words,
But also in silence.
Musically speaking, this is a perfect song for someone who has never heard about the band, a classic Boombox number which opens with a soft electronic melody and some spoken-word samples and proceeds through calm and collected verses to an explosive chorus. For the remainder of the EP the band also sticks to familiar grounds, as is typical for a lot of artists re-emerging after a long hibernation period. The EP’s title means “Alive” in English, and that’s what it states: we’re still alive, still know how to make music. The second track “Wicket” is a relaxed and romantic song with bluesy vibes in the verses:
I will write down these simple words:
Love is alive!
If you have just run out of yours,
Take some of mine.
It is a carefully crafted, sprawling song that plays skillfully with the “quiet-loud” dynamics and reinforces the “we’re back” message. However, the mid-section of the EP doesn’t quite support the initial impetus. The third song “Spoiled Fairy” is a nice rocking track with tasty interplay between the guitar and the piano, but some of Khlyvniuk’s vocal melodies in the chorus sound iffy and slightly off-key, which is strange for an experienced singer. But that song at least has it’s own face and character, which can’t be said about the following track. “Stay” starts promisingly with some nice flute samples setting the mood, but develops into an extremely generic and listless rock ballad. As far as rock-ballads go, Boombox can and have done much better in the past.
The title track that closes the album is the only one focused fully on the topic of this ongoing war. But again, it’s not some tacky heroic ode. In a vulnerable, half-sung, half-spoken manner, Khlyvniuk delivers his musings about survivor’s guilt. This is something that a lot of people have to deal with in Ukraine, especially those like me who are not brave enough to actually join the army, but are conscious enough to understand that our opportunity to lead a semblance of normal life is paid for on a daily basis with blood of men and women who are braver and stronger than us. The only way to deal with it that I see is to keep supporting the army at least indirectly as much as possible and also remember that we did not set this price (that was done by a bloodthirsty midget in Kremlin and his cowardly minions).
Samurai is the loneliest
For he dared to recognize
That his life is not more important than other lives
Kharkiv. Every time I read the news of the city being shelled or attacked by drones again (or experience such an attack myself like during this week’s job trip), I get a clear mental image of a huge but harmless elephant being relentlessly tortured by some mean poachers. But Kharkiv perseveres, and so does music from Kharkiv. To be honest, a lot of this little EP’s poignancy lies in its lyrics. If you don’t understand Ukrainian, this is just a bunch of rock songs with emotional vocals. Still, this bite-sized package of tunes might actually be the most comfortable way for a foreign listener to get familiar with the band and experience some music from Kharkiv – a big city with a big heart.
