VEiiLA is a Russian duo (singing in English though), who escaped to Armenia, when Putin started his ridiculous war. This is a far more dark electropop / trip hop than we are used to hear on PROJEKT, but it’s for sure a very promising act and the female singer got an incredibly strong and nice voice! VEiiLA is pronounced "Vay-la." It's a stylized reference to a Baltic mountain-dwelling demon that lures men into her cave by singing & then devours them. VEiiLA have a ton of youTube videos.
Creating beauty and passion out of harrowing anguish comes easy for Russians-in-exile VEiiLA. With immaculate electronics, slow enthralling rhythms, and female vocals flush with late-night sensuality, the duo of Vif Nüte and Bes Eirid crafts an entwining melancholia with devastating existential lyrics. VEiiLA’s Sentimental Craving For Beauty, is the artistic equivalent of a Venus flytrap: hidden beneath seductive mellow electronics, translucent guitars, soft percussion, synth bass and Vif's tantalizing, alluring vocals dwell the paralyzing vapors of venomous despair, and inevitable pain of human existence. Behind a melodic downtempo sound, VEiiLA leans toward Schopenhauerian pessimism where one does not conquer the pain; verily submission to pain is the only answer to a world made of suffering.
This grim outlook isn't based on mere musings of the poet's soul. When Russia invaded Ukraine, not willing to support the ugly war and the horrible autocratic regime, VEiiLA packed their lives in a couple of suitcases, left their homes and embarked on a journey without destination. As modern Russian dissidents they taste the bitter liquor of disappointment.
Musically VEiiLA charts a direction with a bare minimalist palette of sound clearing space for the intimate vocals' hypnotic swirl, murmuring their introspective allegories of universal indifference and lost hope. The anguish is contrasted by melodic vocals and a sensual downtempo mood. The album has ween voted Echoes Radio's September CD of the Month!
Released Mid September 2023 by Projekt.
Tracks Listing:
01. Can't Forgive Myself
02. I Had a Dream
03. Broken Toy (album version)
04. Another Day
05. Furnace
06. Cool
07. Push the Pedal (album version)
08. Do You Hear Me (album version)
09. Made of Air
10. Ocean's Breath
11. Common Decency
12. My Blues
13. Sick to the Bone
English