Ilo & Friends. "Sunflowers"
This is the second album of the Belarusian-language band from Byalystok.
A Bialystok company of musicians Ilo&Friends under the leadership of the former organizer of "Basovischa" music festival, singer Ilona Karpyuk, issued a CD called "Sunflowers". The album consists of 9 songs to the lyrics of Belarusian and Polish poets, and two folk songs "Arrow-Wood" and "Fog in the Ravine". In the end the listener comes across an interesting artwork, brilliantly assembled and recorded.
The musical compositions of "Sunflowers" may seem literature-musical scenes, where the music's role is to underline the importance of the word. This leads to absence of bright melodies, which means absence of hits. Nevertheless, this does not spoil the total concept of the album - well-tasted acoustic backings, lots of drive and Ilona's voice - unbelievably powerful and beautiful, which grabs the listener on the spot. The listener feels more and more comfortable in the "Sunflowers" each time he listens to it. Maybe the fenomenon of comfort lies in the natural way they convey the music to the listener. They do not long to win somebody's heart or to be liked - they just do their job with love and responsibility.
Another obvious plus of the album is the band's presence in the Belarusian context. Even Belarusian musician do not always dare to use the poetry of Nyaklyaeu, Karatkevich, Sys. Also, it is not the matter of one day to deal with serious poetry, like Vayachka.
The experimental Bialystok-style Belarusian rock - this is Ilo&friends now. It is a pity of course that the band does not visit us with tours, as we lack a Belarusian-speaking rock band with a female leading singer, after Rusya left for ethno and Volha Samusik died. "Sunflowers" by Ilo&friends is an example of the very Belarusian rock, which will find its Belarusian audience. Therefore, the musicians are simply obliged to publish their album in the Internet for free download. The country should know its heroes!
P.S. The album was recorded in the Bialystok studio Rembrandt in 2009-2010. However, Euroradio's musical editor's office got it only now.
