Ethereal Riffian Entering the City of Light Archives

Ethereal Riffian Post “Entering the City of Light” Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on July 7th, 2025 by JJ Koczan

If you look at the image above and squint just right, you’ll see a black dot in front of the giant Buddha statue. That’s Val Kornev, founding guitarist/vocalist and the spiritual driving force (which not every band has, but this one certainly does) behind the direction of slowly-returning meditative, atmospheric heavy psychedelic rockers Ethereal Riffian. Having disbanded in 2019 after the release of their then-final LP, Legends (review here), Kornev reignited the project as a two-piece with guitarist Max Yuhimenko for the 2024 single “Eternal Home” (posted here), for which the newly-posted “Entering the City of Light” serves as a follow-up.

Particularly considering the video for the sub-three-minute instrumental piece, which is filmed by Wild Ether — in which Kornev is also involved — is captured at various temples and spiritual locations, and the song takes a similarly soothing aspect. No complaints as the soft guitar sees Ethereal Riffian‘s logo placed over top of a drone shot of a temple, lined up to show the viewer/listener where they got the design from in the first place. Interspliced with shots of Kornev sitting in that square playing guitar, backed by percussion and a flute that are invisible in the clip, are shots of nature, place and time, some of the people, and resolution in the sun shining through clouds before the pullout shot that produced the screengrab above ends it. There’s a flash of a chant in the credits, but I’m not sure if that’s part of the song or not.

This being the second Ethereal Riffian standalone track in a year’s time — it was last July that “Eternal Home” came out — I have to wonder if the two pieces are indicative of a future direction for the band, which is to say, if they’ll release a full-length album along these same lines, and what that might look and sound like extrapolated from the music they’ve released so far in this configuration. Could such a record stay true to what Kornev and Yuhimenko bring to “Entering the City of Light” and still flesh out over 30-plus minutes without devolving into drone? Would it still work if it did? No answers to those questions at this point, but I think part of the point here is letting things be as they are even if you wish they were even moderately less awful, so fair enough. A whopping 11 years on from Russia’s initial incursions into their home country, let alone outright war, I’m not sure you could even call it escapism anymore so much as survival.

Whatever follows or doesn’t, enjoy:

Ethereal Riffian, “Entering the City of Light” official video

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Mystic rock band from Ukraine, releases the music video for the track “Entering the City of Light”. It was shot in 4 countries, 7 temples, and took 11 filming days.

“I’ve always had the feeling that something is fundamentally wrong with the world humans have created. I had a vision of a better place, and I kept searching for it. I could feel glimpses of it in Jacque Fresco’s ideas, in the ashrams of Sri Aurobindo and Sadguru, in the sincerity of morning rituals in Varanasi, in the spirit of freedom in the air of Singapore, and in how they masterfully blend technology with nature. It was inspiring, but still, it was bits and pieces, and I couldn’t find the exact place. I have come to terms with the fact that it simply doesn’t exist on this planet. “Entering the City of Light” is a very sincere sentiment and an attempt to recreate a feeling of this place. Where wars and tyrants are in history books, and the progress of spirit and technology happens simultaneously. Welcome to the City of Light,” comments Val Kornev.

The new single complements last year’s video for “Eternal Home” and is the second release of the band as a duo.

Credits:
Director: Val Kornev
Shoot by Wild Ether and ខ្មែរយូនិក Khmer Unique
Edited by Wild Ether
Music composed, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Ethereal Riffian

Filmed during May-December 2024

Ethereal Riffian is:

Val Kornev – guitar/vocal
Max Yuhimenko – guitar

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