The band Viscula was formed in Lutsk, Ukraine in 2002, their latest instrumental album “IV” was released on December 17 and already it’s in their top music. The recording of “IV” was attended by 4 musicians who played organic parts without any overlays, only drums, bass, guitar and keyboards. In addition to the band’s musicians, the album featured legendary Soviet and Russian bassist Alexander Titov, who recorded all of the bass parts.
You get introduced into “IV” with a calming bass solo, if you just close your eyes and relax, you can see yourself at the bar with a whiskey in your hand just vibing out to the “Intro” of “IV”. This is the song that instantly gets you hooked on Viscula. The transition into “Seagulls” is almost seamless, it’s four minutes of pure bliss.
You are only two songs into Viscula’s album “IV” and already you feel like you’ve known the group your whole life. Like somehow they are playing this music just for you. The drums that start off “Heartwell” changes the pace of the album for a bit, it’s more upbeat than the two previous songs. The change of pace is nice because “Grey” is a song you want your brain to really listen to.
“Grey” starts off in this almost Spanish like sound, it instantly gets you curious. It’s a soft tune that will have you swaying back and forth, the flute sound really ties the entire song together.
When “Rhumba” starts playin the hips start shakin. This is a funky dance tune that is sure to get you out your seat and on your feet. The album “IV” is consistent in its sound yet it has so much variety and uniqueness to it. It’s hard to just have one favorite song when every song is so different.
After experiencing a pandemic, it sort of feels reasonable to say that you lived through a plague. What does that feel like? Better yet, what does that sound like? If you didn’t know what a plague sounded like then you wouldn’t be alone. Viscula titled their 6th track “Plague” and once you click play on that you will say to yourself, “yup this sounds like a plague”.
The group slows is back down with “Love Is Hard” and based off just the title, it’s already relatable. When making an instrumental song, ep, or album, it’s imperative that you capture your audience with just your instruments, you have to make them feel what you feel without saying how you feel. That is an incredibly hard thing to do and Viscula makes it sound so easy.
They do an amazing job at making you feel. You don’t need to end on a sad note, “Bad Decision” will get you out of that love funk. “IV” is an excellently crafted album and you won’t regret taking 30 minutes from your day to recharge with “IV”
Written by Jaye Maverick
FOLLOW VISCULA:
