Kedr Livanskiy Ariadna Vinyl

For fans of Cluster and Eno, Biosphere - Shenzhou, NEU, Kraftwerk, Muslimgauze, Psychic TV, Robert Turman and Boards of Canada.

This is the first proper full length from 2MR (the label run by Mike Sniper (Captured Tracks) and Mike Simonetti (Italians Do It Better). Kedr Livanskiy is based in Russia and won the Russian Electronic Artist of the Year Award in 2016.

Moscow's Kedr Livanskiy (real name Yana Kedrina) confesses "Synthesizers help me maximally feel the present moment." Livanskiy was born into a shifting and critical time for Russia. The Soviet Union had exhausted and old values were anathematized because of reconstruction.

A sense of displacement drove Kedr to find herself. She's escaped reality repeatedly in her explorations into the imagery and ideas of romanticism, mythical and fairytale themes which visibly bleed throughout her work and especially on her debut full-length Ariadna. The album marks a change in her recording approach: her critically acclaimed breakthrough EP January Sun was written and recorded completely in Ableton, while 'Ariadna' was written using the Roland SH-101, Roland Juno 106 and Korg Minilogue synthesizers, then mixed down in Ableton.

According to Kedr, "This way, one gets into a flow of live interaction, here and now, with the instrument." There is a definite leap in production values this time around, but Kedr manages to keep true to her sound despite the greater polish and depth.