Hlybini

Hlybini means ‘Depths’ in accordionist Aliaksandr Yasinski's native Belarusian. In his first solo album he plumbs these, musically and emotionally. Powerful bass chords underpin, sometimes undermine, his dazzling playing in the higher registers. This is tectonic music with huge forces at work while, at the same time, there is delicacy, dancing. A musical metaphor for human existence on our volatile planet? An expression of contemporary politics (opposed to the political stance of Belarus, Yasinki lives in Prague)? ‘Spell’ ends with what sounds like an avalanche. It begins with water dripping, rooks cawing, the accordion's bellows exhaling, a deep note held, and held, and a mysterious whisper. Yasinski challenges preconceptions – prejudices – about the accordion. He incorporates the clicks of the buttons and slaps the case percussively. Hlybini reveals the remarkable range of the instrument in the hands of an ambitious composer. In ‘Waltz in A’ he uses the Bayanola MB-1, a button accordion MIDI-controller, allowing him to play at incredible velocity. Hlybini is challenging, dramatic and dark, but also beautiful and colourful. Yasinski draws on Belarusian and Balkan music, on Argentinian tango and jazz, on the sounds of the world. In ‘Happiness’ birdsong and wavelets meld into wavering chords; ‘Sunny Fairy Tale’ tails off with the sound of children playing in the distance.