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Vakula Cyclicality Between Procyon And Gomeisa Dekmantel

28.07.16

When Vakula first appeared on the house and techno periphery, few would have guessed what talents the Ukrainian producer possessed. The signs were there as his release schedule ramped up, but it was with his wild album drops for his own Leleka label last year that the penny truly dropped. Both A Voyage To Arcturus and Dedicated To Jim Morrison leapt far beyond the cosy confines of deep, four-to-the-floor dance music and presented luscious compositions of jazz, funk, psych and drone, played on real instruments by real players and arranged with a skill that can’t be blagged messing around with drum machines.

Having previously paraded his Vedomir alias on the label, Vakula returns to Dekmantel for the third instalment in this loosely defined trilogy of long players, having declared improvisation and the cosmos as the guiding influences behind the music. It’s an album that starts off in uncompromising territory, cavorting around abrasive arpeggios and snarling analogue noise in a manner that may be a shock to those more au fait with the producer’s house music.

However, such an opening makes it all the sweeter when Double Star System appears on the scanners, tempering those wayward electronic elements into a balmy thrum to allow space for some Balearic guitar twangs over the top. Unfurling the contents of the track at a relaxed pace over 12 minutes, this is the perfect example of the accomplished skill Vakula can bring to more esoteric realms of production.

There are whispers of techno to be felt in the likes of Overcoming Distance and 8600 km Radius ranks amongst the finest laid back groovers attached to his name, but they are merely parts of a bigger picture. Veering from the savage to the smooth with a deft touch, this album surely ranks as a perfect snapshot of Vakula as the many-sided dice he is today.