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II (Remastered)

by СОЮЗ / SOYUZ

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    1. Verocai (Верокай) / 2. Tezeta (Тизита) featuring Petar Martic / 3. Motive I (Мотив I) / 4. Mirouze (Мируз) / 5. ES-2 Jazz (ЕС-2 Джаз) / 6. Lyric (Лирическая) / 7. Motive II (Мотив II) 8. Business Partners (Партнеры по бизнесу) featuring Inturist / 9. Corrida (Коррида) / 10. Credit History (Кредитная история) / 11. Nascimento (Насименто)

    Includes unlimited streaming of II (Remastered) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £20 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    1. Verocai (Верокай) / 2. Tezeta (Тизита) featuring Petar Martic / 3. Motive I (Мотив I) / 4. Mirouze (Мируз) / 5. ES-2 Jazz (ЕС-2 Джаз) / 6. Lyric (Лирическая) / 7. Motive II (Мотив II) 8. Business Partners (Партнеры по бизнесу) featuring Inturist / 9. Corrida (Коррида) / 10. Credit History (Кредитная история) / 11. Nascimento (Насименто)

    Includes unlimited streaming of II (Remastered) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    1. Verocai (Верокай) / 2. Tezeta (Тизита) featuring Petar Martic / 3. Motive I (Мотив I) / 4. Mirouze (Мируз) / 5. ES-2 Jazz (ЕС-2 Джаз) / 6. Lyric (Лирическая) / 7. Motive II (Мотив II) 8. Business Partners (Партнеры по бизнесу) featuring Inturist / 9. Corrida (Коррида) / 10. Credit History (Кредитная история) / 11. Nascimento (Насименто)

    Includes unlimited streaming of II (Remastered) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    9 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      £21 GBP or more 

     

1.
The color of the sky heathered With a resonant panpipe The glass unit chimed With the morning shadow A double bended man Takes a metro He is unlucky not to notice The color of the sky
2.
Dark station 7 A.M. I haven’t slept at all Yet again I struggle to realize where do I live I wish to go where my home was left I'm either asleep or awake Somewhere in between Khabarovsk and Irkutsk Laptop is dead, sim card is out of service I smoke in the train tambour until conductor kicks me away My mind is lost in the endless string of cities We made the time pass in different ways there Questioning the lengths of the night with 20 hour days Half of the tour ahead I can’t help it no more Jet lag is my best friend for a week now Wish all the best from the stage and strait up to the hotel bed This is all you want to know Are working hours on tour fun? Fuck no Headed drunk to Rostov-on-Don on a fast train at 7:30 in the morning I say over and over and here we go again No one knows how shitty it is here Call me with you as if you’re Alla Pugacheva
3.
4.
I cannot see A rooftop was in there There were windows under that rooftop And people, people, people, people, people were at that windows
5.
6.
My city remembers everything I once forgot about it Avenues and places Have changed their image forever I remember all the paths We travelled as children They're dear to me I'm glad I can walk there again
7.
8.
Business partners until the end To the very end of life The simple charm of a private individual The unbridled flight of thought But it all goes away, only the pain in my legs stays Summer fades in the yards The light in my eyes is gone Behind the office door I drink To forget That I'm remorseful I'm remorseful About my drinking Tiptoed all the way to the end All the way to the end of the corridor With that cocky look on my face Like I was a stranger Like we weren't floating down a mountain river In a cramped, unreliable boat Like we weren't living the same dream As if we hadn't lived at all I drink To forget That I'm remorseful I'm remorseful About my drinking But soon that joyous day will come New doors will open For promising young people Dreaming of a career They'll go all the way to the end To the end of the corridor They won't recognise your face They'll say you're nobody to them I drink To forget That I'm remorseful I'm remorseful About my drinking
9.
10.
Tell me what is wrong with you Tell me what happened to you Why you're suddenly so gloomy You might be sick I just got a loan from the bank... 512 percent interest per annum... It's a trifle, it's nothing… There's a gossip going round the town Spotted in Navahrudak His dreams have all come true Agro-life is in full swing now
11.
The snow melted and there came My old, strange dreams And cigarette butts bloomed Under the faded fences Dust will fly over the river The sun will flood the new building And then my dream ends And again my dream ends Noise has risen outside the window Foreign cars flying outside the ring road Lost in the darkness People's faces grow old Dust will fly over the river The sunbeam will pass over the new building And my dream will repeat itself And again my dream will repeat itself

about

SOYUZ (СОЮЗ) stole our hearts back in 2022 when we released their album Force Of The Wind to critical acclaim. Here we proudly present the predecessor to that LP, the band’s sophomore long player from 2019 that was previously only available digitally. It captures a pivotal evolving period in the band's career, the recordings giving a snapshot of what would become their sound on Force Of The Wind, yet with echoes of avant-psychedelic-pop footprints from yester years.

Produced at a time when band leader Alex Chumak had moved from Minsk to Kyiv, torn between the need to try something new and the homesickness it brought about. Travelling back to Minsk almost weekly, Alex joined fellow band members Mikita Arlou and Stanislav Murashko to lay down II at Studio 42. The album captures these transient feelings, contextualised through the broad scope of influences the band were nourished by. From MPB to Ethio-Jazz and the Italian library soundtracks of Piero Piccioni and Piero Umiliani, the album shines with touches of joy from across the globe.

The opening track 'Verocai' is a tribute to the Brazilian maestro and 'Mirouze', whilst being named after a French favourite of the band, Jean-Pierre Mirouze, pays clear homage to Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges. A ghostly sample and invisible connection to music made miles away in a different era that has influenced and become part of the band’s lives. This is further reinforced in the album's enchanting closer, the aptly titled 'Nascimento', another nod to the great Brazilian musician and singer.

The beginnings of the cinematic, soul-laden jazz SOYUZ are now known for, are on display across the likes of ‘Lyric’ and 'Motive I'. The latter an orchestrated jazz instrumental with sensuous string sections, all of which were recorded on the warmth of a Studer reel-to-reel and waltzing Rhodes keys.

SOYUZ’s wide-ranging palate is further demonstrated in tracks like ‘Business Partners’ with its Krauty, kosmische, new wave production featuring Inturist, and the oh-too-short Anatolian-influenced interlude 'Corrida'. Elsewhere, 'Tezeta' and ‘ES-2 Jazz’ hint at the psychedelic haze of soul-funk, with the former featuring verses from Serbian rapper Petar Martic.

For this new physical and digital release, the whole album was mixed from scratch by Ryan Power before Joker worked his magic on the remaster. More excellence is to come from SOYUZ, but in the meantime, we are thrilled to present this essential recording from the band’s foundational years, mixed to a level that does it the justice it deserves.

credits

released March 22, 2024

All songs written by Alex Chumak except “Партнеры по бизнесу / Business partners” co-written by Evgeny Gorbunov

Alex Chumak – writing, lyrics, string arrangement, vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar (B2), drums (B3)
Mikita Arlou – bass guitar
Stanislav Murashko – drums

Petar Martic – lyrics, vocals (A2)
Evgeny Gorbunov – writing, vocals and keyboards (B3)
Alexey Malishevsky – vibraphone
Alexandra Chekhovskaya – violin
Ekaterina Kuzmina – violin
Elena Serdyukova – viola
Alexander Serdyukov – cello
Raman Malakhouski – spoken word (B5)

Recorded at Studio 42 (Minsk, Belarus), March 2019
Strings recorded at Everest Media (Minsk, Belarus), April 2019
Produced by Mikita Arlou, Alex Chumak
Mixed by Ryan Power
Mastered by Liam McLean (Joker)

Cover photo by Vedrana Vukojević
Design by Yevgen Anfalov

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about

СОЮЗ / SOYUZ Minsk, Belarus

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) is a creative collective from Minsk, Belarus. The duo consists of composer and singer Alex Chumak and one of the key figures of the Belarusian underground scene Mikita Arlou, both musicians are multi-instrumentalists.

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