Queens – Polyvoda (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

In the same way that you occasionally see beautiful plants pushing their way through the cracks they have made in the concrete of the harsh, modern world, Polydova is a bloom of creativity rising above the chaos and carnage of besieged Kyiv.

This Ukrainian instrumental trio weaves genre-fluid music to match its collaboration with other international voices, voices which array gender-fluid lyrics and themes, amongst others, across the surface of their sonic creations.

Starting off with the title track, we immediately find ourselves in a world where pop infusions mix with understated hip-hop moves and R&B grooves to drive more adventurous neo-soul textures. Queens is spacey and beat-driven and slowly evolves as it travels towards its final destination, building in glitz and glamour, tone and texture as it goes.

From here, we pass through the also-disco-soul realms of Drunken Road, a song that builds a bridge between a past clubland heyday and the cutting-edge sounds of today’s dance floors. Bonfire is a seductive little number, washed through with Hammond organ swells, melodic bass runs, and Homeless, the final song of this quality quartet, leans more into hip-hop territory, albeit one that comes from more heavenly and haze-filled, otherworldly realms.

Polyvoda not only make great music, music that embraces whole swathes of genres, wandering at will through the more accessible and infectious parts of the sonic landscape, but they also remind us that diamonds are formed under intense pressure.