Life Processes

?FФЯWДЯD, RUSSIД! means Forward Russia!

If you ever had a chance to make up a name for a band than you probably know what a challenging task it may be. The name must be unique, it must be interesting, it must reflect what music you play and many more. In short, it's not that easy as it seems and sometimes it really takes pains. There exist a lot of different methods, which are supposed to help all the nameless acts to solve this complex problem. You can search for words in dictionaries and reference books, you can try to adopt somebody elseэs song titles, you can use a method of random matches. However, the most original results appear owing to the absurdity technique, which, by all appearance, was the main tool for a young British band called Forward Russia! As a matter of fact, the correct variant looks like ?FФЯWДЯD, RUSSIД! – at least, this was the type of spelling, which they have chosen after foundation of the band in 2004. Their first album Give Me A Wall was released two years later and helped the band to occupy good positions in British indie charts. This year Forward Russia! are coming back with their sophomore attempt called Life Processes.

Unpredictable Behavior

The first thing to discuss is the style of Forward Russia!'s music. Even though such a term as indie-rock looks pretty suitable, it still cannot reflect some important features of the band. First of all, unlike the majority of indie bands Forward Russia! do not really want to be radio-friendly. They are not trying to reinvent ideas of popular bands and fully rely on their own intuition. In what ways it is expressed? Well, for example, in the unpredictable behavior of guitar arrangements. The guitarist plays really a lot of notes and a lot of chords, sometimes he sounds smooth and sometimes abrupt and every new riff do not really coincide with what you supposed it would be. There is definitely something peculiar in their music. The band's singer plays a very important role in their weird image. Sometimes he even seems to be slightly insane. At least this is what you think during the first minutes of the record while your brain remains unprepared to his desperate wails. However, everything looks like nobody else could suite this band better. He fits into arrangements very naturally.

It is hard to call Life Processes a simple record

As a whole, Forward Russia! sound quite gloomy or, to be more precise, quite mystically. The songs sound heavy and sometimes they remind Metal. Particularly, it shows up in the very first song Welcome To The Moment (The Rest Of Your Life) or A Prospector Can Dream. Nevertheless, everything always stays in the borders of rock music. A song called Spring Is A Condition is a good example in this sense. Additionally Forward Russia! really love different kinds of slow, ambient themes with piles of keyboards and guitar effects. In fact, the band's music has a pretty chaotic character. They permanently change pulse of the tempo, riffs and music themes. It all seems like they don't really know what will happen next. However, strange as it ma seem, it sounds quite digestible. Some sort of logic presents all the same. They are not trying to scare listeners with swarm of notes; they simply follow their own way, which eventually leads them to a pretty attractive sound. Of course, it is hard to call Life Processes a simple album, but no the other hand it has nothing really complex either. This record is sufficiently interesting one.