12.2.19 by Ryan Masteller

Daydreams, conversations, interaction, imagination. That’s what “3rd Track” has going for it, a fluid and expressive concoction from Moscow, built upon a “collaboration between Lena [Tsibizova] and her friend Sasha, during her visits to Saint Petersburg.” I wish I had the wherewithal to travel to Moscow or Saint Petersburg and spend some time there to get the sense of everyday life and to immerse myself in the culture there, but it would probably look funny, what with our big, moist president and Russia’s president all buddy-buddy, etc. I’d be under pretty intense scrutiny in the press, I’d imagine. (No Collusion!)

All is not lost, however. Tsibizova infuses “3rd Track” with so much detail that you get a real vibrant sense of place regardless of whether or not you’re actually there or have been there or have dreamed about being there or will be there in some capacity in the future. Wherever she is, there you are, whether it’s subterranean microgrooves or drifting ambient or crushing electronic slo-mo mayhem. Why not throw some napalm-burnt trip hop in there? Might as well – everything else is happening all at once. 

Whatever the style that’s thrown at you, “3rd Track” finds its own identity that weaves itself throughout the pieces. It’s at once melancholy and playful, chilled and revved, breathless and at rest. Tsibizova definitely has a flair for the dramatic, and she couches her work in mystery, restraining the secrets of her craft while amping up the tension of every moment. Like a wolf in the wilderness, as fittingly depicted on the cover, Tsibizova thrusts herself into rugged conditions and survives, coming back with a document of gripping artistry.

Edition of 70 “duplicated by Headless Duplicated Tapes in Prague, Czech Republic.” On Baba Vanga!