This is already the 4th album from this Russian duo of Igor 'Grundik' Kasyansky and Slava Smelovsky, and their first release with a worldwide distribution trying to get more attention. These Russians are obviously inspired by those little japanese lyric haiku songs/poetry and that's evident even from the cover of this CD because it has one song from Issa (one of the most popular japanese poets in this style, lived in 18th and 19th century) written on it. Grundik + Slava's music here is inspired by minimalism in general and it's not aiming to be experimental, cutting-edge or too inovative, opposite of that, it's just (too) simple, pleasant and soothing. That's not bad, but somehow it lacks new ideas and freshness. It also has repetitive moments, specially between the tracks when too often the same or similar very small birdy sounds appear, maybe like a tribute to Issa'a fascination with mosquitos, insects and all things small. But in this music it's becoming a not so interesting pattern between the tracks. The music is fragile, sometimes it's like coming from a russian melancolic fairy tale cartoon. Maybe Grundik + Slava should be more edgy...? Or put more new ideas, dynamics and intensity in their music. Being simple is not enough here and it leads to absence of some really interesting musical contents. On the other hand, this music is still pleasant, but it's just that. I'd grade it with 3 out of 5. (BR) more

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