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Military Verses (2017) - Polite Refusal - All about the album

Today the creativity of "VO" has no frames, boundaries, specific genre or name.... But every song of the band has a competent structure even in those places where, it would seem, it can't be at all (for example, when the sound chaos starts...)!

The story of "Military Verses" by the band "Polite Refusal"

"War verse" is the 9th album of the collective "Polite Refusal", the idea of which appeared in 2008! At that time Suslov (the band's leader) stated that he had written a conceptual cycle, the title of which was to be "Six songs about war". Later, both the programme itself and its name were changed... The musicians decided not to hurry with the recording... As they themselves commented: "I wanted to take my time, to wait for the songs to mature naturally...". And so, at the beginning of November 2017 "Military Verses" finally saw the light... By the way: a solid part of the tracks was already perfectly familiar to the fans! Many songs from the latest album were repeatedly performed by musicians at live concerts before the release of the record itself...

Background

Roman Suslov, leader of the band Polite Refusal
Roman Suslov, leader of the band Polite Refusal

The theme of war is not new for Polite Refusal. It has surfaced more than once in the creativity of the Moscow avant/psychedelic band! However, one should not make hasty conclusions, as if all the tracks from the latest album are literally about war. War for this band is rather... a symbol, an allegory. After all, they don't sing "VO" in the composition "Closet" - about the wardrobe, do they? It is worth to remind that even the name of the band itself seems to reflect some kind of war. "Polite refusal" - we can say that it is a refusal to perceive everything ordinary, habitual, imposed by society... The group has its own vector, along which it moves forward, not paying attention to trends and fashion, to the realities accepted by society... The members of "VO" recognise only their own, individual way of development.

The release of "Military Couplets" was prepared for a really long time... During this time the band members managed to ignite public interest to the album, performing the compositions presented on it... Something was released on the previous programme "Goose and Swans". And something - slowly and leisurely "ripened" for the new release...

"War Verses" is a deep, well-composed programme, presenting a unified space of images. On the cover we can see both old and new names and surnames: for example, saxophonist Pavel Tonkovid has joined the ranks of the brass section with trumpeter Andrey Solovyov, on keyboards Pavel Karmanov and the link of the band's early recordings, Maxim Trefan, replace each other.

Content, Style...

Surely many people have noticed the similarity between the covers of "Military couplets" and the famous 1989 album of the same name, the so-called "White record". One gets the feeling that the musicians released their latest (to date) programme as a conscious reference to the past... However....

The album "Military Verses" by the band "Polite Refusal".
The album "Military Verses" by the band "Polite Refusal".

If the band's earlier records were broken serenades in medium or slow tempo, the tracks from "Military Couplets" are much deeper author's reflection. It can be assumed that the main idea of the release is to convey to the listener the feeling of inexpediency of war... Having a trump card up their sleeve - a military metaphor - "VO" decided to fire from all weapons: musical instruments shout each other (especially Andrey Solovyov's trumpet). The feeling of confusion is conveyed by the instrumental parts, which diverge in opposite directions. So, for example, at the end of the track "Infantry in the Trenches" we can observe the discord between guitar sound, vocals, as well as jazz motif of bass and drums... It should be emphasised that this is quite a difficult technique both for the audience and for the band itself. Despite the fact that it is very rare in music, here it describes a military battlefield in the best possible way...

However, the theme of war can be traced in all "VO" records, even, it would seem, on "I-i once!..", which is so far from this theme. However, it is on "Military couplets" that war is the main idea, the main emotion... And this applies not only to the images generated in the lyrics, but also to the notes... There is a place for unpredictable and complex turns....

Songs from the album

Polite Refusal Group...
Polite Refusal Group...

Some critics characterised the album as "the most musical" in VO's discography! That is - this record was perceived as the most complex of all previously released... However, there is an immediate paradox: complicating its musical language, "Polite Refusal" immediately reveals to the listener its simplified decoding! For example, the compositions from "Goose and Swan" are quite complicated, they are hard to get into your head (at least at once)... But on "Military Couplets" it's just the opposite: the album is full of quickly memorable, easy-to-understand songs....

By the way: as part of this record, the studio version of the hit "We Will Win" was finally released! Actually, we offer you to personally familiarise yourself with the full track list.

"What if!"

"Guderian and ice cream."

"Infantry in the trenches."

"Gopac."

"Zenitchik."

"We shall prevail!"

"Overture."

"Final."

Conclusion

Today the creativity of "VO" has no frames, boundaries, specific genre or name... But every song of the band has a competent structure even in those places where, it would seem, it can't be at all (for example, when the sound chaos starts...)! And the release called "Military Verses" is the brightest example of art that is completely free from ideology! The cover of the programme also reflects a difficult and rather painful theme, which is revealed in detail in the music... The band simply "fights" in their art, flatly refusing to understand really important things in a vulgar way....

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