cheekbones

The cover of Cheekbones’ ‘EAT SLEEP MOM DAD’ depicts a ruggedly handsome man carrying another man in a desolate yet warm and inviting landscape, and this imagery is a suitable outline for the album. Opening with minimal synths and echoing, glacial vocals ‘Surfing The Nectar’ entices like The xx at their warmest. On second track ‘Moon Pills’, Cheekbones find a looser, more organic sound with a Republic-era bassline looping through, as the song runs into a more primal soundscape. Where unlike La Roux or Robyn, the feel is not one of ’80s pastiche, rather an accomplished amalgamation of influences into something much more contemporary, perhaps closest to that of The Naked & Famous.

After leading from the regal opening clutch of tracks ‘Mr. Teaser”s angular guitars and compressed vocals don’t work as well. The song has snatches of loveliness but comes across as trying too hard to with its attempt at white noise, coming over more bad riot grrrl pop than innovative sound crafting. Balance is restored on ‘I Woke Up In A Rye Field’. Here, warm strings, and Ibizan trance guitar bring you to that warm sunset, it’s a track that finishes too soon, leaving you wanting it to run smiling into a full Balearic breakdown. Standout track ‘Hey Pop’ rages in with Vangelis keyboards and primal, tribal drums crashing with Florence & The Machine or even Nine Inch Nails elemental intensity. A song running along the edge of chaos, climaxing in a swirling maelstrom of drums, feedback and crashing vocals. You can hear Blade Runner’s Decker chasing a beautiful, androgynous replicant through blinding rain with ‘Hey Pop’.

After the barely controlled chaos of ‘Hey Pop’, ‘He’s A Minx’ let’s us briefly catch our breath with its most affected vocal, a twinkling little break, all seductive, warm sounds. Following the hush of ‘He’s A Minx’, Cheekbones bring out another strong track, Perhaps the most orthodox, structurally, of the album, and this is no bad thing for ‘My Bus’. An almost drive time song, that recalls early Garbage with elements of ‘Golden Skans’ by Klaxons. Repeated plays and ‘My Bus’ grows to become another standout on ‘EAT SLEEP MOM DAD’. ‘Cartoon’ doesn’t work so well. Its upbeat riff reminiscent of mid 90's Britpop like Sleeper or Echobelly, with a slight 21st century makeover. Closer ‘Vis-a-Vis’ is exactly where you want to finish. Full Cafe del Mar synths bringing you down after ‘EAT SLEEP MOM DAD”s quite sublime and rather wonderful ride. - kit21.com

Of course there’s a Russian DIY label called Motherland. I’d be disappointed if there weren’t. Of course it puts out albums of toothy guitar pop with names like EAT SLEEP MOM DAD. Of course it does.
The third and most recent release from Motherland, Cheekbones’ debut LP wraps sinewy post-punk guitars around big frenetic drums and tops the whole thing off with neat, acidic lady vocals. It’s best when it becomes completely unhinged; tracks like “Mr. Teaser” bait-and-switch between chaotic verses and sweet, melodic choruses. It’s wrapped up prettily, but there’s a real sense of danger lurking inside Cheekbones. The songs taste like candy, but you never know when you’re going to bite into a razorblade. - Dingus

Of course there’s a Russian DIY label called Motherland. I’d be disappointed if there weren’t. Of course it puts out albums of toothy guitar pop with names like EAT SLEEP MOM DAD. Of course it does.
The third and most recent release from Motherland, Cheekbones’ debut LP wraps sinewy post-punk guitars around big frenetic drums and tops the whole thing off with neat, acidic lady vocals. It’s best when it becomes completely unhinged; tracks like “Mr. Teaser” bait-and-switch between chaotic verses and sweet, melodic choruses. It’s wrapped up prettily, but there’s a real sense of danger lurking inside Cheekbones. The songs taste like candy, but you never know when you’re going to bite into a razorblade. - Dingus

The cover of Cheekbones' 'EAT SLEEP MOM DAD' depicts a ruggedly handsome man carrying another man in a desolate yet warm and inviting landscape, and this imagery is a suitable outline for the album. Opening with minimal synths and echoing, glacial vocals 'Surfing The Nectar' entices like The xx at their warmest. On second track 'Moon Pills', Cheekbones find a looser, more organic sound with a Republic-era bassline looping through, as the song runs into a more primal soundscape. Where unlike La Roux or Robyn, the feel is not one of '80s pastiche, rather an accomplished amalgamation of influences into something much more contemporary, perhaps closest to that of The Naked & Famous.

After leading from the regal opening clutch of tracks 'Mr. Teaser''s angular guitars and compressed vocals don't work as well. The song has snatches of loveliness but comes across as trying too hard to with its attempt at white noise, coming over more bad riot grrrl pop than innovative sound crafting. Balance is restored on 'I Woke Up In A Rye Field'. Here, warm strings, and Ibizan trance guitar bring you to that warm sunset, it's a track that finishes too soon, leaving you wanting it to run smiling into a full Balearic breakdown. Standout track 'Hey Pop' rages in with Vangelis keyboards and primal, tribal drums crashing with Florence & The Machine or even Nine Inch Nails elemental intensity. A song running along the edge of chaos, climaxing in a swirling maelstrom of drums, feedback and crashing vocals. You can hear Blade Runner's Decker chasing a beautiful, androgynous replicant through blinding rain with 'Hey Pop'.

After the barely controlled chaos of 'Hey Pop', 'He's A Minx' let's us briefly catch our breath with its most affected vocal, a twinkling little break, all seductive, warm sounds. Following the hush of 'He's A Minx', Cheekbones bring out another strong track, Perhaps the most orthodox, structurally, of the album, and this is no bad thing for 'My Bus'. An almost drive time song, that recalls early Garbage with elements of 'Golden Skans' by Klaxons. Repeated plays and 'My Bus' grows to become another standout on 'EAT SLEEP MOM DAD'. 'Cartoon' doesn't work so well. Its upbeat riff reminiscent of mid 90's Britpop like Sleeper or Echobelly, with a slight 21st century makeover. Closer 'Vis-a-Vis' is exactly where you want to finish. Full Cafe del Mar synths bringing you down after 'EAT SLEEP MOM DAD''s quite sublime and rather wonderful ride. - The Sound of Confusion

“Very good songs, sounds interesting” - Petur Hallgrimsson (Petur is the singer/songwriter of the Icelandic band, Pondus. He has performed, recorded and toured with acclaimed artist such as Kylie Minogue, Sigur Ros, Lay Low, Emiliana Torrini, Marc Almond to name a few. )

«conundrums in English about dreams and travelings”

“cheekbones resumed their performance with the song “cartoon”, where lyrics:
Who is that little lady
Leaving our room,
Who is that pretty gentleman,
Who`s coming out
unequivocally refer us to the topic of gender self-determination and self-expression, the problem really urgent nowadays in Petersburg,since the the whole topic suddenly became taboo.” - SPASIBO(Saint-Petersburg based charity eco-foundation) team on the charity gig

“..guitar echo flies away along the sound canvas, vocals sinks somewhere beyond
the clouds, rhythm part being chamber questioning turns into sharp emotional attack, just to break one more time on the threshold of the expected crescendo.

Shape of every song is pretty unpredictable, and the sound effects are enough
brave and abundant to refer cheekbones to experimental music.”-
SMBOL(design showroom)

“cheekbones – melancholy, joy and a lump in the throat, songs in English
about something we usually do not notice, but face daily. Shoegaze eye to eye,
bare wires, birds on wires, cranes and tomtits, rare state of rare people.” - Mitya
Goltzman( Mitya Holtzman (Saint Petersburg, Russia)former Kira Kira) - random

Nice new russian music digest - COLTA

Nice new russian music digest - COLTA

Album recorded in burning studio - PAPER

Album recorded in burning studio - PAPER

In closing - and in the name of some balance - it's worth looking at a third Saint Petersburg outfit, Cheekbones, who again keep an eye on issues of decadence, decline, or demise. Pathos, however, is lacking. A recent interview for Ultra-Music creates an especially telling picture. Here we learn that two northern sisters - Mila and Aneliya - first met with their future colleague Vyacheslav in the autumn of 2010. What style might suit an underfunded, nervous collective close to the Finnish border? Cheekbones came to the conclusion that their windswept, freezing hometown might indeed nurture a certain kind of expression. It came from the fundamental observation that Saint Petersburg is, quite simply, not Moscow.
A typically chaotic Benzolnye Mertvecy performance
"There's a difference between the Moscow and Saint Petersburg scenes. It comes from different movements [or trajectories]: Saint Petersburg is open to artists and innovators. Moscow, on the other hand, is only open to [established] performers. In the capital you need a tried, tested, and 'mass-market' product. Here, though, people love anything that's new or unusual." Vyacheslav adds that by maintaining a distance from Moscow, local fame and even an income are possible. A balance is thus struck between boundless desire and tempered actuality: limits are acknowledged and Moscow is (thankfully!) placed to one side.
When asked to list the genres that best define Cheekbones, Vyacheslav suggests a level-headed melange of Pia Fraus' introspection and the physical, jazz-core torment of Benzolnye Mertvecy. Admitting to an early influence of indie rock, he then speaks of some other registers he has since accepted: jazz, noise, neo-folk, and "of course, shoegaze." The admission is made that some dreams will "of course" remain as such. There's no desperate, even decadent need to push against intransigent reality - knowing in advance that one is unlikely to win. Tragedy is instead replaced by sage sobriety.
For that reason, it's telling - and even touching - to see that Cheekbones use a substantial quote in Russian from Kenneth Grahame's 1908 "Wind in the Willows" on their main social networking account. It comes from a particular moment in the novel when Mole admits to a growing sense of fatigue. Some ubiquitous, invisible burden is felt - but he simply accepts it quietly and calmly. Sometimes the weight of the world cannot be overcome. There's no "adult" fear and trembling. A small animal simply accepts his minor status, sighs a little, and continues to float downstream.
"I feel strangely tired, Rat," said the Mole, leaning wearily over his oars as the boat drifted. "It's being up all night, you'll say, perhaps; but that's nothing. We do as much half the nights of the week, at this time of the year. No; I feel as if I had been through something very exciting and rather terrible, and it was just over; and yet nothing particular has happened."
Some burdens are calmly shouldered. - FARFROMMOSCOW

In closing - and in the name of some balance - it's worth looking at a third Saint Petersburg outfit, Cheekbones, who again keep an eye on issues of decadence, decline, or demise. Pathos, however, is lacking. A recent interview for Ultra-Music creates an especially telling picture. Here we learn that two northern sisters - Mila and Aneliya - first met with their future colleague Vyacheslav in the autumn of 2010. What style might suit an underfunded, nervous collective close to the Finnish border? Cheekbones came to the conclusion that their windswept, freezing hometown might indeed nurture a certain kind of expression. It came from the fundamental observation that Saint Petersburg is, quite simply, not Moscow.
A typically chaotic Benzolnye Mertvecy performance
"There's a difference between the Moscow and Saint Petersburg scenes. It comes from different movements [or trajectories]: Saint Petersburg is open to artists and innovators. Moscow, on the other hand, is only open to [established] performers. In the capital you need a tried, tested, and 'mass-market' product. Here, though, people love anything that's new or unusual." Vyacheslav adds that by maintaining a distance from Moscow, local fame and even an income are possible. A balance is thus struck between boundless desire and tempered actuality: limits are acknowledged and Moscow is (thankfully!) placed to one side.
When asked to list the genres that best define Cheekbones, Vyacheslav suggests a level-headed melange of Pia Fraus' introspection and the physical, jazz-core torment of Benzolnye Mertvecy. Admitting to an early influence of indie rock, he then speaks of some other registers he has since accepted: jazz, noise, neo-folk, and "of course, shoegaze." The admission is made that some dreams will "of course" remain as such. There's no desperate, even decadent need to push against intransigent reality - knowing in advance that one is unlikely to win. Tragedy is instead replaced by sage sobriety.
For that reason, it's telling - and even touching - to see that Cheekbones use a substantial quote in Russian from Kenneth Grahame's 1908 "Wind in the Willows" on their main social networking account. It comes from a particular moment in the novel when Mole admits to a growing sense of fatigue. Some ubiquitous, invisible burden is felt - but he simply accepts it quietly and calmly. Sometimes the weight of the world cannot be overcome. There's no "adult" fear and trembling. A small animal simply accepts his minor status, sighs a little, and continues to float downstream.
"I feel strangely tired, Rat," said the Mole, leaning wearily over his oars as the boat drifted. "It's being up all night, you'll say, perhaps; but that's nothing. We do as much half the nights of the week, at this time of the year. No; I feel as if I had been through something very exciting and rather terrible, and it was just over; and yet nothing particular has happened."
Some burdens are calmly shouldered. - FARFROMMOSCOW