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Artist
B A I K A L
12+ albums
chillwaveelectroRussiarussianEzhevika
about
A kindred love of small spaces - and a grand Siberian expanse - informs the instrumental project called BAIKAL. Readers may recall that BAIKAL is a solo endeavor. The individual responsible here is Moscow's Alexander Zharikov, known better in some quarters as Moskva-Kassiopeya. Zharikov's fundamental inspiration comes simultaneously from boyhood science fiction and the world's largest or oldest freshwater lake. Modest lyrical concerns evolve against the imagery of bottomless water or a boundless night sky. Siberia stands in for the cosmos. Zharikov's better-known moniker is the title of a 1974 Soviet science fiction movie. It comes, in other words, from a time when the grey tedium of social "stagnation" was countered with films and novels set in another galaxy. Metaphors of hope no longer looked convincing when placed in the real world: empathy, charity, and collaboration needed to start anew - somewhere entirely different. All the way from children's animation to adult, philosophical fiction, the 1970s were rich in scientific allegory. Zharikov agrees in a new interview that the nostalgic sounds of the 1970s and '80s have a special appeal in Russia, perhaps because they recall the last few years of Soviet social security. The music of BAIKAL appears within the same context, rich in the symbolism of endless - unrealized - paths. Nostalgia ponders what might have been and trajectories that were sadly curtailed. "Over the last two years, plenty of producers have appeared her
