Five-Storey Ensemble - Not That City + Night en Face (2013-2017, CD, Belarus)

Formed by talented instrumentalists and singers at the Academy of music in Minsk, several of them sharing a common experience in Rational Diet, this group of Belarusian Chamber composes and plays music too structured neo-classical inspired, with great richness and melodic harmonica, using primarily acoustic instruments classical and modern techniques.

Five-Storey Ensemble - Not That City (2013)

After about a dozen years, with a handful of excellent releases to their credit, Belarus based Rational Diet has split up, or rather split into two bands, with most members from their last album On Phenomena and Existences ending up in Five-Storey Ensemble. Other members went to another band called Archestra, which this writer has not heard yet, but to confuse matters even more, some of the former Rational Diet members (specifically woodwind player Vitaly Appow and drummer / percussionist Nikolay Semitko) are in the lineup of both new bands. Five-Storey Ensemble seems to be doing an excellent job of carrying the style of their previous band forward, with an expanded lineup of ten members and plenty of additional instrumentation, they play a disciplined chamber-rock sound that might be reminiscent in some ways to the work of groups like Univers Zero, Aranis, Julverne, and others, although generally the tone is not dark and somber like UZ, but more light and playful. The compositions are all credited to Appow or keyboardist / vocalist Olga Podgaiskadja, with lyrics by Alexander Vvedensky, and as one might suspect, Five-Storey features more vocals that Rational Diet did, and also tends to rely more on scored compositions than improvisation, or so it seems, yet there are some notable exceptions, like “Amid the Smoke...” There’s a lot going on here, and after numerous listens I’m still hearing new surprises with every play. Heartily recommended for all fans of the acoustic based chamber-rock style.

Five-Storey Ensemble - Night en Face (2017)

 

Second episode for the Five Storey Ensemble. Natural pursuit of previous experience with Rational Diet. Much more complexity, more room for melodies, a real small orchestra, guides us between awkward and melancholy atmospheres. Chamber music with sounding solutions and interlocking sounds with unique style and elegance. A narrative that encapsulates the drama and pathos of a movie soundtrack. A disk of great maturity and quality.