AtmAsfera

The band's debut album To Find (AtmA Records (Ukraine), 2005) is a collection of heavy metal-edged progressive tracks that provide an interesting introduction into the band's formation. Here Nastya and Yulya's crystalline and expressive vocals soar above the guitar-laced arrangements.

Tempo and style changes within the tracks and across the album contribute to its progressive feel. And the album cover reveals the Nastya's incredible beauty and her innocence at the time. Vast electric guitar excursions contribute to the harder edge of AtmAsfera's sound. All good progressive rock albums mix light and airy with dark and heavy. To Find does the same by adding flute and acoustic guitar and mixing elements of jazz into the sound.

The album's title track has strong allusions to early Quidam with flute and electric guitar contributing to folk rock styled arrangements. Not without crunching electric guitars, the band's by now characteristic percussion and bass contribute rhythm and cadence to the standout. Instrumental breaks hint at how the band's sound will develop on future albums. We loved how the lead vocals were echoed by the guitar solos and how the band blended strings with heavier electric guitar parts.

AtmAsfera experiment with sound effects and spoken word in "Heart, "City" and "As All" among the album's other tracks. Clearly the standout track of To Find is "Loneliness," a well-arranged rocker featuring powerful vocal parts. While the sound varies between quiet and quite robust, the vocal work Nastya and Yulya as well as the flute have important parts that contribute to the outstanding sound.

As with the track "That ..." the vocal work points to harmonies that will be featured in the band's future recordings. The closing and standout track "Sun" is a very dynamically arranged vocally-laced ballad. In addition to the wonderful flute solo, the rhythm section, superbly delivered vocal and electric guitar production are great.

AtmAsfera's second album Forgotten Love (Wai Lana Production (Ukraine), 2006) released only one year after their debut, is comprised of all new songs. The sound differs dramatically from their first outing. The album is musically themed, meaning here that a series of common themes develop in the individual songs and recur adding depth and diversity as the album progresses seamlessly from beginning to end.

Second, the band's sound on the album is tremendously consistent--flute, percussion, strings, keyboards and light guitars provide the backdrop to the crystalline female voices which are most clearly featured singing in harmony from the very beginning. Acoustic percussion contributes to the world-music sound that emerges.

The band are also to be congratulated on the album's outstanding artwork including a stunning cover, brilliantly illustrated booklet and liner and a lovely silkscreen printed CD. It perfectly compliments the outstanding music that graces the ten tracks with over an hour of running time. Nastya's expressive flute playing carries the medidative operning track "Nama Om." On closer reading, we note that Anastaslya is her full name.

"Syamakunda Radhakunda" begins somewhat medidative, accompanied by both keyboard washes and the sisters' lovely vocal harmonies. The song develops into the first of the album's reels. Vocals enter the fray before the track concludes with a replay of the reel. Listen to the speed and precision of the playing. The upbeat "Radharani Syamasunder" continues to perflectly blend strings, vocals and acoustic percussion.

Expressive lead and harmony vocals sung over light string and flute arrangements clearly makes "Samsara" an album standout. It's perfect bookend is "Sri-Guru" that follows. Nastya's crystalline vocal lead is superb. The album's title track "... forgotten love" (Ukranian version) is a tremendous duet sung by the sisters. A full arrangement of the earlier reel recurs atop keyboard washes before the band's full splendor contributes. We especially enjoyed the English lyrics at the conclusion of the track.

Two of the album's most memorable and strongest tracks are the thematic and medidative "Gopala" and "Gouranga." These tracks, separated by the orginal version of "... forgotten love" are both well-arranged vocal numbers. With their tremendous arrangements and sung parts, we loved the vocal harmonies and powerful flute and string solos in these tracks.

Pay particular attention to the crisp opening percussion in the original version of "... forgotten love." We appreciated the English lyric and vocalise harmony as well. Listen to the breathing in the flute work in the third recurrance of the reel to hear Nastlya's virtuousity. The album concludes with standout track "Brahma-Samhita" whose tremendous melody and lyrics return. They are apparently soare important to the band that the themes and choruses appear to recur in Integro and Internal albums.

AtmAsfera's third album Integro (Wai Lana Productions (Ukraine), 2011) was released five years after their prior work. Yet another significant step forward for the band musically, with recurring themes, fantastic arrangements and superb vocal melodies, it is by far the most listened to AtmAsfera album at Musical Discoveries and our favorite. It is not to say that the most recent album is also superb, but Integro is so powerful, so well arranged, and so memorable, none of the band's other work can top it. Artwork accompanying the CD is superb with a lovely photo of the band adorning the opening two pages of the booklet. The album's twelve tracks run an hour.

Perhaps played best just as their prior album concludes, AtmAsfera's Integro opens with "In ..." almost precisely and quite amazingly where the themes of "Brahma-Samhita" left off five years earlier. Strings and flute, again, are especially well arranged as the album opens. The upbeat track "Endless Story" presents the first theme of Integro. Close your eyes as a percussive Cirque du Soleil arrangement to your ears. AtmAsfera's vocal work is immediately dramatically more intense and harmonious. Listen for "gopala" and "govinda" that recur in the lyrics.

Album standout "Another World" introduces the album's second theme, sung rhythmically against acoustic percussion and flute before the full splendor of AtmAsfera comes online driven by a powerful string part and the lush harmonies that fill the chorus. The instrumental mid-section is amazing. With it's differing arrangements and lyrics, "Whisper" repeats themes introduced during "Endless Story." Listen especially close for the outstanding mandolin solos that span the track accompanying violin. A tempo change mid-song adds a vocal chorus and opens up the instrumental arrangement further building the album's diversity. Don't get caught by the false ending before the closing passage is played.

The album's musical theme is further developed in "Flower and the Wind," a warm keyboard and vocal number that builds on "In ..." adding elements of "Endless Story" in its arrangement. A style change brightens up the keyboard and adds striking flute and violin to the mix. Vocal harmonies are performed wonderfully echoing sounds from "Endless Story" in the track, but more percussively. Mid-album is the powerfully percussive "Kozak" instrumental whose arrangement introduces a Ukranian sounding theme featuring flute, strings, and of course layers of drums, to the album.

The Ukranian theme is further developed in "Gucul," an upbeat track--and album standout--that ultimately blends the "Endless Story" theme with "Kozak." The memorable {"gopala") chorus that develops mid-song and recurs between two gorgeous verses and a great instrumental break is among the very best that AtmAsfera offers its listeners. Listen for the tightness in the percussive performance of the instrumentals and tremendous power of the two female vocalists.

"Every Step ..." is Integro's English lyric track. Although the pace and instrumental intensity and complexity builds within the song, the opening and closing passages are gentle ballads sung harmoniously by the three vocalists atop gorgiously performed flute, string and mandolin arrangements. The album concludes with "Namaste." While the guitars initially may seem a little out of place on the album, when joined by violin and flute melodies and the percussive string arrangement, the song works well integrating themes developed earlier in the album.

Radio versions of the album's most popular tracks "Whisper," "Gocul" and "Every Step ..." are also included on the CD. These are shorter but otherwise almost identical to the longer versions on the album. This album is AtmAsfera!

By AtmAsfera's fourth album Internal (Wai Lana Productions (Ukraine), 2012), the band have found their sound and rhythm. The CD's distribution has been picked up by EMI Music Poland. Additional endorsements on the album cover demonstrate the band's increased commercial success. The album is packaged as a cardboard six panel tri-fold without a booklet. Photos of the individual band members and a lovely sketch of the entire ensemble adorn the sleeve. Yet with this success, there is no compromise on the quality and originality of their music. The one hour album is comprised of ten primary tracks; two original bonus tracks are and a radio edit of "Almost" are also included. In addition to the shorter tracks, two epic length numbers and a four-part suite adorn the production.

The percussion and voices of the "Intro" track clearly set the stage for Internal. Production of the strings, flute and percussion is notably sharper and richer. Vocals have been given a great treatment as well, literally jumping out of the mix. The first song, an epic, begins as a gorgeous ballad and is entitled "Where Should I Go." It is beautifually sung by Nastya in English. Joined by Yuliya's harmony, the "govinda" theme that recurs throughout the album is backed by saxophone and strings. Instrumentals build to a crescendo before the lovely second and keyboard-washed and acoustic guitar-style ballad passage of the song begins. It concludes with a powerful vocal passage.

The percussive "Bala" is a brief upbeat track with a Celtic flair. The epic "Almost" is comprised of a gentle ballad that fills its first half and opens with an outstanding vocal segment. The tempo and intensity builds in the second half as woodwinds and deep percussion enter the mix backing layered the Yaremchuk sisters' vocal excursions, yet returns to the gentle arrangement of the song's beginning. A shorter radio edit of "Almost" is included as a bonus track on the disc. "Lonely Night" is a similarly constructed, somewhat warmer number with a delicate vocal passage within it, that also builds to a powerful instrumental and vocally rich conclusion.

The centerpiece of Internal is the "Tetralogy Apocalypse" suite. Part I, entitled "War," is a tremendous track, a tightly arranged and performed percussive instrumental while Part II, another instrumental entitled "Inside," showcases an extended saxophone solo atop warm keyboard washes. Part III, a much more meditative vocal number, is entitled "Inspiration." The suite climaxes in Part IV, "Life," with lovely vocalise, flute, sax and acoustic guitar producing a bright arrangement that builds percussively. Whispers, lyrical passages and additional vocalise add great texture. The album concludes by wrapping up the themes developed earlier in the project into a cohesive whole in "Voice of the Wind." Listen for the perfect blend of AtmAsfera's instrumental range with their lovely vocal melodies.

The album's three bonus tracks include a radio version of "Almost," as well as two more numbers. "Fly Away" is short and upbeat and percussive number laced with thick electric guitar, vast Celtic flute excursions and lovely English lyric vocal passages. In "Viva," (a song for UEFA Euro 2012), the band deliver a drum-intensive radio-friendly English lyric track designed for mass appeal. Watch the video online.

AtmAsfera have stretched their boundaries while building momentum with Internal. The players are talented, tight and committed. With a well-defined and well-honed sound, the ensemble seems to be without limits.