Dorraa

Lado, when sung, is similar to ‘la-la’, in that it’s a vocable with no specific meaning. At the same time, in Russian the word “лад” (lad) refers to harmony, order, or peace. Multiplicities like this underscore the A side. Lado is constructed from a deep well of textually rich sources including Russian wedding songs and Bulgarian folk music, and yet (and perhaps because of this) the track possesses the emotive potential reserved for music aimed directly at the heart and its body. Boiling over at a hot 160bpm, Lado’s 5:50 minute runtime and fluid, skyward lilt sends acid flying into the margins, peals of sub bass into the chest, and an overwhelming, ancestral energy into the air.

The next track, Polyanka, is a dizzying slice of rhythmic psychedelia, and its shifting pulse and magnetic vocal sampling push the listener into proximity with the mystical states of awaking and transition surrounding a girl’s trip into the forest Olga Sergeeva (the traditional Russian artist behind the primary sample) sings about. This story is cross stitched with elements from the Bulgarian Folk song Dva Kone” by Trio Bulgarka, and Dorraa notes: “I don’t understand Bulgarian, and for me, combining the two songs felt like drawing a continuous line — as if the girl from the first song traveled far while gathering berries and eventually arrived somewhere where the language sounds similar, yet different. That’s basically my experience with immigration.”
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