Scenes from a Revolution is the soundtrack to a film yet to be made. It is a sonic biography of those who lived through the turbulent times of the Soviet Union, from the Russian Revolution, which birthed it, to the horrors of the Second World War, and beyond, and how the repercussions of such momentous and often horrific events were carried through time and across the world with those who lived through them. Also, reading between the lines, dealing with how the psychological and cultural impact of those events is still shaping the world.
It is less akin to an album of songs, more like a modern symphony, a classical arrangement only using the sonic tools of the pop and rock world, and, as such, works with guitar-driven prog and ambient electronica, orchestral ornateness and math-rock complexity, swooping and soaring strings and brass inclusions, and everything in between. Imagine the sort of sound that someone like Wagner would be making had he grown up in the more recent rock ‘n’ roll age influenced by Led Zeppelin and Foucault rather than Beethoven and Schopenhauer.
But how else would you tell such a vast tale without such an array of sounds to draw on? For every song-like construction, such as the deft and emotive “The Letters,” there is a searing, electro-soaked instrumental, such as “The Death of Rasputin,” a soundscape as complex and crazy as the subject matter and his dark and much-discussed demise.
“Dedushka” is an emotive prayer from the titular grandfather, folk-finessed and suitably dour, perhaps both a personal family tale of love and loss and longing, and a metaphor for a nationwide collective emotion. “Missing” is brooding, bruised, and suitably confusing, fully capturing the emotional turmoil of those looking for loved ones. And then there are songs such as “Bitter Cup,” which is sonically buoyant and yet full of tragedy.
A review of any such 69-minute album, a collection of such deep studies and sonic creativity, can only ever be a tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, I have pointed you, dear listener, in the right direction, opened the door for you to fully experience this majestic piece, a place where entertainment and education dance together, a place where you can, and indeed must immerse yourself and take what your own mind, heart, and perhaps even soul, requires from it.
As I said at the start, Scenes from a Revolution feels like the soundtrack to an important piece of history, a film yet to be made…All I will say is that if someone doesn’t make the filmic component to this amazing and heart-wrenching story, that will also add another tragic element to this sonic slice of dark history.
