Kedr Livanskiy – Liminal Soul
Kedr Livanskiy coalesces her past work into a gorgeous, if slightly front-loaded return on new album Liminal Soul
Following the giddy rush into the light of 2019’s Your Need, it was something of a mystery where Kedr Livanskiy would go next. What you get on Liminal Soul is something of a moulding together of all her records up to this point. The lo-fi textures of her early work are gone, but the vaporous washes of sound remain, while the recent move towards crystalline synths and classic 808 rhythms continues.
The tumbling drums and plonking synths of Boy are gorgeous and her voice is at its craning emotive best, while My Invisible – which at points sounds like an early grime instrumental and a piece of 90s breakbeat pop having a wrestle – fizzes with spiky energy. Storm Dancer is the only one that feels set apart from the rest. It looms out at the end of the record, grander and more menacing than its counterparts. With its screeches of synth and operatic vocals it’s a strong final blast, but points towards a record of more tonal variety. As it is, the other songs in its final third, which work perfectly well when listened to in and of themselves, can’t help but feel like re-treading ground covered better earlier in the record.
Listen to: Boy, Storm Dancer, My Invisible