Moscow-based, modern trance and techno producer Kedr Livanskiy glibly remarked upon the release of her 2019 record You Need, that her next album would be a folk record. I appreciate that level of wry misdirection. It's good to keep music journalists on their toes. Their days are mostly spent sucking up to John Darnielle and they are not going to notice if you provide them with a statement that is patently untrue. Further, the most alive they will feel all year is when they have to scramble to issue a retraction. Kedr did everyone a favor as far as I'm concerned.
If you haven't gathered yet, Kedr Livanskiy's fourth LP Liminal Soul is about as much a folk album as Parliament's Dr. Funkenstein is a polka album. That doesn't mean it's not a departure from the headlong IDM of her previous efforts. Indeed, the album sees Kedr diverting her attention to the fizzle and purr of pure pop song structures. Liminal Soul is a more intimate effort than its predecessors in a number of ways- the beats are sparser, the production is clean, effortless, and unobtrusive, and Kedr's vocals are center stage in the mix. There are still some saucy and sassy beats spattered throughout, but the focus of this album is not rhythm as much as it is melody. Kedr, through the vessel of her voice, is the heliocentric center around which all other forms circulate and vibe. These tracks might not be as enticing to the hips, but the sounds that escape from her lips are simply luminescent and it is worth pausing to appreciate the seduction of their aura in a moment of suspense and reverie.
