It’s one thing to make music influenced by tragic world events; it is a whole other thing to make music whilst caught up within them. Perhaps the idea of people being creative as the world they know is being systematically and ruthlessly ripped apart seems unthinkable, but that speaks to the resilience of humans and the importance of creativity.
Polyvoda emerged from the chaos of Kyiv in 2022, a genre-hopping trio of instrumentalists who draw on vocalists from around the world to act as the voice of their music and create songs that reflect their thoughts and experiences.
Bonfire is a fantastic song, effortlessly funky, dancefloor driven yet deftly wrought and with something important to say. It bridges the world of digital dexterity and more traditional analogue approaches. And if it is a dance track, though it outpaces almost everything made under such a label, it is one forged of equal measures of poise and poignancy, a clever balancing act of groove and grace.
Music can be entertainment, and it can inform. It can be about escapism, but it can also discuss reality. Bonfire is one of those rare tracks that is infectious and accessible, yet it echoes with the cries of people trapped, against their will, amid chaos and catastrophe—the epitome of grace, and indeed groove, under fire.
In such circumstances, music becomes more than music. It becomes communication, a way of raising awareness, a powerful call to the rest of the world, a reminder not to let their plight be forgotten, not to be consigned as just another dark deed in a world where black clouds seem to loom on every horizon.
If you do nothing else today, listen to, like, and share the music Polyvoda, and everyone like them makes, no matter where they can be found. This is music made despite their hardships, sonic art as an act of defiance. If music ever needed your support to help perpetuate a message, to add your voice to theirs, and encourage others to do the same, that time is now.
