VORKOMA

Vorkoma is the e.p. by Ukrainian one man post rock band Krobak, which consists of Igor doing all the instruments. I haven't heard his other albums in their entirety yet but this one is quite different from all the other songs I have heard from them. The first song here is They're All Shot this Winter, which is said to be dedicated to the horrible events that occur worldwide. There is definitely an air of melancholy here, and though the instrumentation consists of mainly only guitars it really doesn't feel as if anything is lacking. The track consists mainly of a single theme, interwoven with other themes, all with an air of melancholy to them, similar to bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but with a unique sound that is a bit more than the average predictable build ups of many post rock bands I've heard. The next song, Three Tired Hands, begins with an interesting drum/bass groove, with some minimalistic guitar slowly added in, and eventually more layers of guitar are added, but the track still maintains the same basic groove. Not as melancholy as the first track, it provides a nice contrast to that. With the next track, As Fresh As the Air of Night, we go back to that more melancholic feel, this time using bass and guitar. At one point there is a guitar hidden way back in the mix do some dissonant sounding textures in a fashion almost like a solo, but it doesn't feel as if Igor is showing off. I really like the aforementioned section, and it fits well with the guitar/bass patterns established before. The tracks maintains that melancholic feel, and then ends with some interesting sound effects. The final track, Everyday I set My Gaze Towards the East Waiting for the Sun begins with some interesting sounds that I think are made on guitar. It's a bit dissonant, and has a sort of creepy, ominous feel to it that I like. This track as a whole has a rather psychedelic feel to it, and I'd say it's my favourite on the e.p. All in all, this is 21 minutes of good, solid, post rock. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece but judging by the quality here and on his other work, I'm sure Igor is capable of one. It's a bit atypical of the material I've heard by Krobak, mainly because the other albums seemed to have tracks a bit more extended and with different types of instruments, but I wouldn't say that that means that this is bad by any means. I recommend it highly for anyone that's into post rock and is looking for something different or if someone is trying to get into post rock and they want a unique example of a band in the genre. And of course the best part about this album is that it is available for a free download, which is rather generous of the artist and also will hopefully garner some attention for him.