I’m not sure if the lovely scent of sweet almonds I perceived when I took the CD off its plastic wrapping belongs to the release, but I think it’s the first time a musical release manages to hit my nose before my hearing. I’ve not tried to lick the cover, whose effective silk printed artwork got designed by Zavoloka, but if so, I wouldn’t be surprised if it tastes like paczki – the delicious Polish donuts – or piernik – a notorious kind of gingerbread that you should taste at least once in your life in Poland -! On the bright side now, Malfinia Ensemblo amalgamates electronic entities from analog synths by young American composer and sound artist Norman Teale aka The Norman Conquest, who also cared mixing, sound manipulation, mastering and recording and added some instrumental patterns (electric cello, electric bass, charango) and Austrian drummer Andi Stetcher – all drums are “real”! -, who met and imagined the amazing crossover you’re going to listen on “Varsovia” while they were in the Polish capital city, the main source of inspiration. The opening “Mensa Lavango” immediately grabs listener’s attention by fuming drums and wild synth-brass which could resemble the ones that many EBM and industrial names often inserts before a computational melody, which could suit the soundtrack for a phuturistic version of “Age Of Empires”, suddenly breaks into the song; the bitonal low frequencies and the angelic singing by Agnes Szelag which opens the first moments of the following “Lumo” reminded Beaumont Hannant’s “Heavenly” to me as there are some similarities with the use of voice by Lida Husik on that song, but the song soon turns into a sort of zombified march; Szelag’s hypnotic voice also marks “Fulmo”, the following track where some brilliant overlaps by Stetcher really stand out; whereas the sound of “Lumo” could evoke marching zombies, the vibe on following “Eho” could let you think the awakening of a starving vampire. The narcotic trip-hop of “Malfinia Ondo” get listener prepped and ready for the lenghty final anthem “La Universo Estas Atomo”, where the meticulous electroacoustic workings by these guys seem to render a “big bang”-like approach to composition in their own image and likeness.
