Music Review: Auktyon - Girls Sing - Page 2

I'm glad I do, because otherwise I might never have bothered to listen to Auktyon, a twelve piece band from Russia who has created a sound that blends elements of both Eastern and Western Europe. The result is something that I doubt you've ever heard before. When I listened to "Profukal," the first song of their new album Girls Sing,  it reminded me of was the former Canadian band Lighthouse. It has the same very large sound that you only get with a multi piece band including brass and wood winds. But as the song progressed I changed my evaluation, realizing that although there were similarities, Lighthouse never played music that sounded like psychedelic, punk, polkas.

There's something about the sound of a tuba playing in a rock band. I've always thought that brings a certain level of absurdity to the proceedings. Not that it makes the music sound ridiculous, rather it makes the band sound like they don't take themselves too seriously and lets you know that you are allowed to have fun listening to the tracks. Of course with the lyric in Russian it's hard to know what they are singing about, but the impression I got was here's a band that does a lot of their music with their tongues planted very firmly in their cheeks.

Having brass and wood winds gives them far more flexibility than the would have if they were a band made up of your standard rock and roll instruments. It seemed to me that aside from the polka type sound they were chugging out on the first track, they also were incorporating elements of various Eastern European folk melodies and what sounded like gypsy music. It's on slower tunes that you really notice the European influences and the difference that it has on the way the music impacts you emotionally over regular rock and roll.

Don't get me wrong, I love great rock and roll, but there is only so much that you can do with it musically - it is limited. So when your music incorporates other instruments and is not confined to the basic chord progressions of rock, the potential for what you can do  increases. Of course, you still have to have the talent and the skill to take advantage of that, and know how to create music that's rich and inventive enough that it sounds natural and not contrived.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and The Unofficial Heroes Of Olympus Companion, both published by Ulysses Press. He has had his work published in print and online all over the world including the German edition of Rolling Stone Magazine and www.Qantara.de. …

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