15/06/2020
I'm very happy and proud to announce another Ny Agenda release. A beautiful album crafted by the enormously talented Russian composer Sophia Zhuravkova.
It is available for digital purchase from today - and will be shipping out in physical form from 23rd of June. Pre-orders are up now!
https://ny-agenda.bandcamp.com/album/unseen
Thank you Simon for your beautiful words and thank you Sophia for the trust in letting me put out your music (and for your patience!)
'In what could be seen as an effort to redefine or decode the core idea of the field recording as simply the aural equivalent of a photograph; the works of Zhuravkova casts an effortlessly clear spotlight on a new vision of nature. A nature which is connected and wi-fi accessible, a nature of which every part is browsable via satellite view in Google Maps. A nature which might never know true solitude beyond that which we project unto it.
And yet our idea of nature as a place outside of society is inherently a definition of solitude due to its lack of people. One might have thought that the advances of modern communication technology would make us immune to solitude; as we are always a phone call, video call or text message away from just about anyone else. Does anyone even enter a forest without the safety net of a smartphone these days? However, the biology of our minds cannot be fooled - we are hardwired for physical contact. In light of this, the voice samples on Unseen only serves to haunt the album with a hollow presence, enforcing the notion of solitude.
But this is not solitude of the desolate kind. While equally tapping into the emotional potential of longing, there is tranquility and harmony in the soundscapes Zhuravkova envisions. The opaque haze of these compositions keeps one grounded in their eternal presence. This experience which Zhuravkova aims to capture reveals an intimacy with oneself in our relation to the “nature” of the outdoors. However transparent the world may seem through the lens of modern technology, there is still the possibility of the unseen.
Vision itself is a key element to Zhuravkova’s music; as her daytime job is as a video editor, she often draws from this experience when composing. “It happens naturally” she says. “For instance, as a visual story unfolds it has a rhythm, a picture, a sound, and a meaning. They come together to produce an image in one’s mind. People only hear sounds, while I know all the intimate feelings, which were put into each track.”'
7 track album
