Friday Full-Length: Voida, Colour Me Darkness
I’ll readily admit that I had never heard Voida‘s Colour Me Darkness until yesterday. That was kind of the point. On thee social medias, I put out a request for something mellow with which to end the week. I wasn’t feeling anything too aggro, more subdued, and there were some really cool suggestions that came back. This one came courtesy of Igor Sidorenko of Kyiv-based Stoned Jesus and I followed the link immediately because, well, when The Mountain speaks, you listen. So I listened. It wasn’t until I actually looked at the Bandcamp though that I realized Voida was his own project — respect the hustle — with contributions of mellotron/organ from Alexey Klabukov of Vespero and some added sax from bnk of Selma. Right on. Igor also warned, via GIF, that it was depressing, and fair enough. While second cut “Erased” opens up to flourish of mellotron melody and is one of the three out of total six tracks that features drums, the roots of Voida are very much in acoustic songwriting, and there are plenty of moments — the opening of “No Sanctuary for the Sinking Ship,” and, to an extent, the opening title-cut — that hinge on guitar-and-voice minimalism.
At the same time, Colour Me Darkness, in that same “No Sanctuary for the Sinking Ship” no less, also explores a particularly Floydian melancholia, giving the entire affair a more contemplative feel. Sidorenko weaves in a sense of structure throughout. “Colour Me Darkness” establishes its hook in its verses and there’s a sense of drama thanks to the mellotron that gives a sense of build to “Erased,” even as the song takes on a full-band vibe, with bass and drums layered in beneath the electric guitar solo that, while not scorching, still provides a tie to Sidorenko‘s work in his main outfit. Still, some of the stylistic difference is part of what makes Colour Me Darkness engaging, particularly as a first/second/third listen, etc. The emotive crux of “The Last Date” serves as an example of something that, in a form that was outwardly heavier in tone, would be nearly impossible. Surrounded by his own acoustic strum and Klabukov‘s flowing keys, Sidorenko‘s voice lets loose in a way that weighted distortion would simply swallow up, and the backdrop enhances the sincerity of the lyrics. That song caps with backward guitar transitioning into “The First Snow,” and the connection is purposeful as the two songs comprise the ‘Disintegration Duology.’ It’s no stretch to hear a lonely spirit in a recording of solo voice and acoustic guitar, but the rougher edge in Sidorenko‘s voice, the way he reaches for some of the notes, 
the dryness (that is, sans-reverb) of the vocal recording — all of this feeds into a central idea of organic expression that, once again, is the root from which Colour Me Darkness stems.
And it does stem. “Erased” gave some tease, but Voida‘s drums return on both “The First Snow” and 14-minute closer “Poison in the Wells.” The penultimate track shifts into tambourine-laced psych-folk, with sitar-esque guitar drone and all, before its quiet conclusion rounds out the duology and, one assumes, the disintegration, with a sense more of acceptance than misery. Meanwhile, the finale is essentially an album unto itself, as its runtime spans not just a significant portion of Colour Me Darkness‘ 44-minute stretch, but it moves from hypnotic and moody Scott Kelly-style strum-and-woe into multi-layered vocals on a linear path that eventually takes it into a launch at 7:25 that puts it in atmospheric territory not unlike Paradise Lost or even Judgement-era Anathema in a spacious, progressive and surprising finish. Mellotron returns, the drums and bass march out in dirge fashion, and yes, there’s still an acoustic guitar at the base of it that’s the last thing to go, plucking the notes that started the song off on its encompassing path, but so much is put forth in “Poison in the Wells” that it’s easy to gloss over such subtleties in the wake of what’s just passed. Such is all the more fodder for repeat listens.
Voida issued a series of four seasonally-named EPs between 2010 and 2014, but Colour Me Darkness, which came out in 2011, was the project’s lone full-length, and since 2014’s Autumn EP, it would appear to have been put to rest. Perhaps that’s due to the shifting priorities of Sidorenko himself, with Stoned Jesus hitting the road ever harder after releasing their second album, 2012’s Seven Thunders Roar (review here), resulting in an even busier schedule for 2015’s The Harvest (review here) and their eventual pickup by Napalm Records ahead of 2018’s Pilgrims (review here), their ascent fueled not only by the hit-the-algorithm internet word of mouth, but through their own continued efforts in terms of touring and progressing in terms of sound. Last year, Stoned Jesus began to mark their 10th anniversary with a series of tours, dividing Europe into different territories and covering them one by one. Their first US appearance is currently still slated for Desertfest New York in Sept. 2020, but like everythig else in New York, it is a question as to whether or not this will take place.
Either way, the point here was that I wanted to hear something new to me, and here was a solo-project by someone whose work I’ve respected for the better part of a decade — Stoned Jesus made their debut in 2010 with First Communion, which I picked up in 2011 and dug — that I’d never heard. These are hard times. I know that. We all know it. Human beings aren’t made to sit still. We’re made to go, even if it’s just from one place to another to serve our capitalist overlords. But while we’re forced to stop that process, it’s important to remember that there are still ways to encounter new things, new ideas, both that are coming out now and that we might have missed. People are still making art, and people still have made art forever, and I don’t care who you are, there’s no way you’ve seen it all. If we’re all stuck, at least we can unstick our minds a little, and maybe when the plague lockdown is over, we’ll all come out a little better for it.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
—
Week’s over, right? Next week, I intend to wrap up the Days of Rona series. Last posts. It’s starting to feel like data-entry on my part and that’s a bit of a drag. Not really what my day needs. Plus I was kind of disappointed at the lack of response from women or anyone who wasn’t a dude with a beard, but I guess that’s heavy rock at this point. So it goes.
I asked The Patient Mrs. if she wanted to do one. I don’t know if she’s going to or not. She’s pretty busy these days.
Beyond that, Monday I’m reviewing the Elder record, Tuesday I’m reviewing High Priestess (finally!) and there are some other premieres set for this and that along the way too. Cool stuff to come.
Regular news is also starting to trickle in again, which is good. I wouldn’t say it’s “back to normal,” as far as that standard goes — not a lot of tour announcements — but there are things to talk about that aren’t directly related to COVID-19, and, if nothing else, I could use a break. If we all wind up in lockdown until June or July, August, October, three years from now, whenever, I reserve the right to start the series back up.
It’ll probably be all the same people answering. Ha. At least I’ll have pics to go with.
I noted such on Thee Facebooks, but today’s probably the busiest release day 2020 has seen, with new stuff from Elephant Tree, Elder, Wight, 1000mods, Soldati, King Witch, Gaffa Ghandi, Lord Fowl and a ton of others out. Obviously no one knew there’d be a pandemic on when they were doing their scheduling, so whatever you can do to support these people vis a vis buying records, it’s something you might consider doing. Because more art.
Have a great and safe weekend. Thanks again for reading.
FRM.
Tags: Kyiv, Stoned Jesus, Ukraine, Unsigned bands, Voida, Voida Colour Me Darkness
