OT&DO AT THE PLACE

Following the EP-album titled "Parksound", released at the very end of 2017, St. Petersburg trio OT&DO have released a live album, the first in its history. It consists of eight tracks, lasts about 40 minutes and was recorded on January 14, 2017 at the Babooinumfest festival, organized by the leader of this trio, keyboard player and composer Sergey Gorchaninov. At that time, this was the second session of the festival, and in June 2019 the festival was held for the eleventh time, having already taken on an international scale featuring Ángel Ontalva. By the way, during the 1st session the famous live album by Pandora Snail was recorded.

It is worth noting that OT&DO also includes bass player Stanislaw Rybinski and drummer Nikita Petrov. At this concert, guest musicians joined the musicians on several tracks ? guitar player Ruslan Sobinin (Triptones, Serdimontana) and saxophone player Pavel Voronkov. They effectively enriched the sound and made the performed compositions more multifaceted and interesting.

Fans of jazz branches of progressive rock and just good instrumental music will certainly enjoy this album. However, if you are not already familiar with OT&DO, it would be better to start this acquaintance with the mentioned EP-album titled "Parksound", for two reasons. Firstly, although it was "published" before this live release, it was recorded later, in the middle of 2017, when the musicians were able to polish their compositions and make them more mature. Secondly, the conditions of the Parksound studio, apparently, allowed them to use more fully the potential of these compositions. Try to compare both versions of the two compositions that are on both albums - "Circus Burnt" and "The Night with You"! The comparison will be in favor of the versions from "Parksound" sounding somehow "sparkling" and more energetic.

It should not be regarded as criticism of "OT&DO at the Place", which contains a cool performance of good instrumental music, and all the musicians are in great shape! The penultimate track "To Urania" is especially pleased, with its special beauty, sophistication and some kind of enjoyable "light sadness". This track and "Circus Burnt" are the highlights. We should take into account that the debut full-length studio album has not yet been released, and, perhaps, it will not include some tracks from this live album. Therefore, "OT&DO at the Place" has special value.