Volodymyr Gnatenko - Rainalice - Kalahari Oyster Cult

While much of Volodymyr Gnatenko's album was produced during the worst points of the ongoing global pandemic, it sounds scarily contemporary - not least because the Ukranian producer's love of poignant chords, melancholic melodies and heart-aching aural textures are as emotionally resonant as the horrors currently unfolding in his homeland. Rainalice, his debut album, is undoubtedly a triumph: a thrillingly retro-futurist collection of IDM, electro and ambient techno excursions completed in his Kyiv studio (where he now shelters during air raids), that inadvertently offer a reminder of the vibrancy of the pre-war electronic music scene in Ukraine whilst sonically transporting listeners to some distant plant or galaxy.