Philipp Gorbachev – The Silver Album

Out now on the Comeme label The Silver Album from this self exiled Russian now living in Berlin is a difficult one to tie down and I must admit that on the first few listens I found it difficult to get my head around.

The Silver Album could never be accused of being easy listening and it does need to you engage your brain ans well as your feet. It’s forward thinking and somewhat avant-garde with its jarring acid basslines and Russian lyrics. I want to give it the label “Acid House” because it does have a feel of the early Acid Trax tunes, but there are perhaps elements of the early Antler Subway label in there too.

all the songs on The Silver Album are performed live and Gorbachev’s lyrics add a whole new dimension to the music creating something that is wholly different to anything I’ve heard before.

The opening track “Arrest Me” is also the first single from the album and is a dedication to the imprisoned people around the world and is for me the most accessible of the tunes on this record.

Here’s the thing, music that doesn’t immediately fit with anything you’ve heard before can often be overlooked as being too challenging or perhaps difficult, but in the long run these self same records are the ones that give the most enjoyment in the long run…and that’s what you have with The Silver Album.

This is being hailed as the “first Russian dance album” – I don’t know about that but it is certainly an interesting, thought provoking, clever and all together a bit different from the norm.

After a few listens you will “get” this record and appreciate that despite its left fieldness, this is a very, VERY good album of acidic grooves with an undefinable edge to it.