Galya Chikiss

(text from last.fm, photo afisha.ru)

Chikiss has formed in the Summer of 2005 in a quiet resort town of Primorsk. It’s near the Finnish border, on the coast of Gulf of Finland. Against the background of beautiful nature two Sashas - band’s guitarist and drummer - have for ten years been recording their sound waves. The band has taken a certain shape in St. Petersburg at the home studio of keyboard player and singer Galya Chikiss who had first appeared in Primorsk in January 2005 to meet some like-minded people. Thus a new period in the life of all three has started. First they jammed at a historical early 20th century Lutheran church right on the Gulf’s shore; the rehearsal studio was right under the spire. Then they moved to St. Petersburg. The joint creative process has led to the creation of Chikiss band and provided a lot of fresh ideas to the legendary Primorsk-based experimental band 188910 (named after the town’s postcode) with which it shares members.

Chikiss is a colourful, beautiful and lively phenomenon in the Russian music scene. Not quite standard yet rather minimal lineup (voice, keyboards, rhythm section, guitar, reverberators), electronically specific sound of live instruments; varied scope of sounds - noise and ambient sketches alternate with dance rhythms and soul-warming outer space love lyrics. If comparisons are to be drawn, then the likes of Scala, Lali Puna, or Broadcast could be mentioned.



Vesennyaya (Spring) 2009.zip

Autumn gold 2009.zip

My opinion: the music is "interesting" art object much more than "music". Enjoy experiments.