Having been away from the limelight for six years, World Music pioneers Theodor Bastard have been considering the cataclysmic changes in the world and “searching for a way out of the darkness that’s descended over our reality.” They found that through creating their upcoming eighth studio album which led them “into the coldness of the city, a collapsing civilization, and ultimately, rebirth.”
Theodor Bastard have announced their new album ▽ (pronounced V) and revealed a music video for the album’s lead single. “Sverkay” is a track that reconnects with the band’s roots in Electronic music, .
Theodor Bastard Producer, multi-instrumentalist and founding member Fedor Svolotch says:
This album might never have happened. So much has surrounded us during recent years: the pandemic, war, division, fear, anxiety over technology, and a sense that reality itself is becoming darker and more unstable. We have felt so much anger, pain, confusion and disappointment both in ourselves and in the world around us. All these emotions were gathering inside us, changing, darkening, searching for a form, until they eventually transformed into the unexpected on ▽.
The album ▽ reflects how much has changed since 2020. While the band are still recognized for blending ritual Folk, Electronics and World Music, on their new album, they’ve returned to their early Electronic sounds “because that’s now how modern life feels: cold, sharp, tense.”
Svolotoch says:
Our sound changed because the world changed. We had to destroy our own habits and expectations to make ▽. We wanted to start again, as if the band has no past, no safe place, no ready-made formula. As a result, this album is not a continuation of what came before. It’s a different door.
He continues:
I know people probably expected another Northern ethnic album from us. Oftentimes, once bands find their niche, they stay there. But this has never been our path and now is not the time for beautiful genre obedience.
▽ represents our vision of what’s going on in the world today. Instead of flights into space, instead of discovering the vast mysterious inside ourselves, once again, humanity is busy destroying itself. This album is our attempt to find a way out of that cycle, to understand what is happening, and to feel for some kind of perspective.
The video for “Sverkay” was directed by Fedor Svolotch and stars Yana Veva. Theodor Bastard built the spaceship that appears in the video by hand. They also created the video’s practical and visual effects themselves. The concept for the spacesuit was created by Yana Veva and made by TomHem Studio.
