Words by Art Jefferson
Images courtesy of Dlina Volny
The music of Belarus trio Dlina Volny is truly something magical. It’s seducing, atmospheric, at times haunting, and ultimately the perfect mood controlling vehicle. Creating a perfect stir of post-punk, synthpop, coldwave, dance and more, their songs are crafted with poetic lyricism and entrancing instrumentation that is thoroughly transportive.
Hailing from Minsk, the group consisting of singer Masha Zinevitch, keyboardist Ales Shishlo and guitarist Vad Mikutski released their impeccable Neizmerima EP back in 2016. A furious lashing of post-punk and coldwave, the sinister sonics topped with Zinevitch’s sensual and wooing vocals made for one eargasmic listening experience. This short masterpiece would open the door for Dlina Volny’s 2018 debut album Mechty. Singing in both English and Russian, Masha Zinevitch was in top form with the production dark, mysterious and dreamy. What could be deemed as audible cinema, Mechty, which translates to dream in Russian, lived up to every expectation, a true intoxication of sound.
The trio dropped a cover of Alla Pugacheva’s ‘Кафе танцующих огней (The Cafe of Dancing Lights)’ in 2020, giving it a synthwave makeover. That same year also marked for the group’s label deal with none other than Italians Do It Better. They released their debut single ‘Do It’ for the imprint, an upbeat and sparkling synthpop cut constructed of thumping bass tones, sharp, whirling synth work and an infectious sing-along chorus. Dlina Volny wasted no time afterwards dropping the follow-up tracks ‘I’m Not Allowed’, ‘Whatever Happens Next’, ‘Redrum’ and ‘Bipolar’, all backed by incredible music videos, giving fans full packages.
Dlina Volny’s latest single ‘Tomorrow’ is a dance-driven post-punk/synthwave handing that is another hitting of the bullseye. With accompanying visuals that look more like a film, the song is the ultimate lead-up to their forthcoming LP Dazed, which is landing in November. Considering the group’s consistency, the record will more than likely be their most grand yet.
Could you talk about the origins and formation of the band?
Masha – Vad and I have known each other for many years now. We started our musical journey together and were working on things from time to time. In 2015 we met Ales and felt a connection, which could turn into something bigger, something that the three of us had been looking to do. So we tried to jam one evening, which instantly gave birth to Dlina Volny and our first EP Neizmerima (2016).
We all come from different musical backgrounds (Ales used to do instrumental hip-hop and electronica, Vad and myself were into indie and blues-rock). But somehow that evening we found the direction that still makes us all shake with excitement and desire to explore what else we can do.
You once mentioned the lacking of the music industry infrastructure in Belarus. I would imagine that forced a lot of bands to take a DIY approach to almost all aspects of their art. Does having those DIY ethics allow for a sense of freedom and how does that play a part in terms of how you all create as a group?
Masha – It does give you freedom but at the same time it makes it so much harder to get into the industry. You have to look for ways to make your music heard yourself. A lot of the times we thought that no one needed us and our songs but still could not let it go and just stop. I don’t think we will ever be able to stop. It’s like breathing. You stop breathing – you die. Trivial but true.
There are a few industry people in Belarus, who have made a lot of contacts in the world music business throughout the years and are very keen on helping musicians like ourselves to be heard. Dmitri Bezkorovainyi, for instance, is one of those people. He always attends showcase festivals in Europe and spreads the word about Belarusian bands. He even hosted his own music showcase in Minsk (first ever) – Iskra – in 2018, which gave us all the opportunity to meet the industry people from Europe. It was great and has borne fruit to us!
We are now signed to the dream label Italians Do It Better. It took a couple of emails and we were super excited when they replied saying “Let’s DO IT!” 🙂
Your sound is a magnificent blend of post-punk, coldwave, synthwave and more. There is a seductiveness to the musicality. When you formed the band, was that always the initial direction that you wanted to go sonically or did it progress to that over time?
Masha – I guess this sound and feel is just what and who we are. The sound itself has progressed throughout the years so what you can hear now is the current state of it. We shall see what we come up with next. But I think the overall feeling and energy will remain. It just might be covered in a different skin.
Your 2016 Neizmerima EP is in my daily rotation of records. It’s so good! My only complaint is that I wish it was longer! Can you talk about the creative process of making that EP?
Masha – It’s very nice to hear! We still love that EP very much too!
Back in 2016 I was based in London and would only come to Minsk to visit for a week or two. When we decided to have a jam session, I’d only had a week left to spend in Minsk. At the first session we wrote ‘Ne Znaju Kuda’ and decided that we should spend the rest of the time writing a couple more songs, and release them. And that was what we did. In the next three or four sessions we wrote ‘Howling’, ‘Volny Dlina’ and ‘Black Case’, recorded everything and I left. The boys would meet up to do mixing and mastering and we were ready to go.
We had a children’s synth (Casio Rapman), which was one of our main instruments for Neizmerima. It was a lot of fun as one cannot tune or program it in any way so we had to work with what we had. Vad’s Fender Stratocaster, Jazz Bass and the Roland TR-707 drum machine (we still use it a lot, of course) were also involved. We also decided to experiment with my lower voice register, which I’d never taken seriously before. All of this opened a whole new world to us. Now we work with analogue synths and love programming them to find new sounds. And, by the way, we are on the lookout for a Casio Rapman to see what we can do with it now. If you have one, please sell it to us for a reasonable price (they are super expensive nowadays for some reason). 🙂
Before this EP none of us had released a complete piece of work so it was a big and thrilling moment for us. Especially when we started receiving positive feedback and gig invites.
You released your record Mechty back in 2018, which is a great release. What made you decide to remaster it and re-release it the following year? While I personally love how it’s mastered on the original release, did you feel like you wanted to brighten the sound a bit more?
Masha – At the time we had a different team behind us (Keith Wyatt, Indie Kitchen Records, was our manager) and we all came to a decision that the record needed a cleaner sound to get interest. We’d mixed everything ourselves for Neizmerima and thought remastering the album would make us sound more noteworthy. The remaster didn’t change much exposure-wise, though. And I did hear a lot of people say they liked the original version of the album better. I guess we were still trying to understand what we wanted to sound like so this was a kind of experiment and a very interesting experience of working with a mastering engineer, which we are super grateful for! It also wasn’t easy for any of us. We had a lot of iterations and discussions, and finally came to the sound that you can hear on ‘Mechty (remaster)’.
You signed to the US label Italians Do It Better. I read that they immediately wanted to release your music shortly after receiving it. What was that feeling like signing to IDIB who have definitely built up a strong foundation of not only music but visuals?
Masha – We were shocked, thrilled and very happy! Actually, we went completely nuts for several minutes straight when we received their reply. Chromatics and everything that Johnny Jewel does have been a massive inspiration to us since the beginning of Dlina Volny. Megan Louise of Desire is also president of the label. Throughout the years they have done so many incredible things that we have been watching closely. For them to be able to share that experience with us and to work on our journey is just a blessing and has completely changed the way we work (in a good way).
In terms of the songwriting, it’s poetic, often times feeling like lyrically it could transfer to movies. The writing of the tracks also leave room for the listener’s imagination. Can you talk about your approach to songwriting?
Masha – I like to come up with stories while working on a song. Overall, every day I collect my thoughts and feelings into a little box that is kept somewhere inside my soul. Then when we work on music I take pieces out of that box and unfold them into something bigger. The stories that you hear in the songs are my own or of an imaginary character. The thing that I love doing is coming up with a situation and putting myself into it and writing about it. I transport into a different body and mind and see how things go there in this or that situation. It’s always a journey that I take myself on. Oftentimes I have no idea where I’m going to end up. It’s like living a different life and having a different experience to my own.
Another strong aspect of the group is the incredible music videos that you release. When you’re writing and recording music, are visual ideas also being conceived around the same time or does that come with each individual single release?
Masha – We always have a picture in our heads when we write songs. For our music videos, though, we like to see what the directors come up with. We want it to be a collective work so that they have a chance to bring their vision to life too. Just like we love for our listeners to feel our music in their own way and not think of what we put into it.
We discuss what the directors come up with and if it works for us, we start shooting. Although, for ‘Redrum’ we worked very closely with the director (Yauheni Sinichenko) as I had an image that I really wanted to pursue in the video. After long conversations about the heroine: who she is, what she does and why she does it, we started shooting. With Yauheni and Alex Skidan (the incredible DOP) we always start with brainstorming on the song and how we can visualise it. And we love the result!
Finally, are there plans of releasing an LP via Italians Do It Better, and if so, what can we expect?
Masha – Yes, indeed! Our second album Dazed is out on November 5th on Italians Do It Better. The album weaves together mystical narratives and fantasies sourced in our feelings and sentiments from over the past several years. It packs pain and euphoria, anxiety and passion, despair and hope. For us, releasing Dazed into the world also means releasing everything that fuelled it, good and bad. We promise a cinematic vibe and a lot of feeling. Just the way we love it!
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