The musical language of Vozvraschenie can be described as symbiosis of rock music and Russian traditional music. The sound of Russian folk instruments (zhaleika, sopilka, ocarina, floyara, jolomyga and others) is interwined with guitar passages and a rather heavy rhythm section, and spiced up by modern electronic and virtual instruments.
Discography:
Deep, 2018 / Sketis Music
Let There Be Light (Single), 2015
SpringLand, 2014 / Sketis Music
Time Not Gone, 2011 / Sketis Music
Upstream, 2002 / Aria Records
iTunes: http://apple.co/1IJpiKN
Google Play: http://bit.ly/1at5NHg
Bandcamp: http://bit.ly/1E0dN0r
CD Baby: http://bit.ly/1ctE9eV
Spotify: http://spoti.fi/1cPiZZb
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Reviews:
«The best in contemporary Russian rock ‘n’ roll is alive and well in Vozvraschenie’s newest release, Spring Land. The eleven-track release contains heady vocals and gorgeous rock melodies with guitars, bass, percussion, and assorted instrumentation of ocarina, igil, jaw-harp, mandolin, virtual instruments, and others. It is rare every song on an album is great, but Spring Land proves it’s possible. From the opening, driving melody of «Kapel» to the Celtic-rock and punk-inspired sounds of «Skomoroshya Dolya,» Vozvraschenie is comfortable in any genre and style. However, rock and pop sounds are the primary influence here. There are a few displays of rock guitar splendor, but Vozvraschenie do their best to stick to solid, catchy rock grooves that are unforgettable. «Kapel» and «Zodchy» are two of the best tracks of any artist in any genre to come out this year. The mix of guitars, flute sounds, assorted strings, and the buzzing, electric bagpipe effects of the zhaleyka aerophone on «Zodchy» are definitely worthwhile. All the songs are in Russian. However, every song is excellent irregardless of language barriers. Anyone into Russian folk/rock will love it. One of the best recordings of 2014.»
~ Matthew Forss / Inside World Music (http://insideworldmusic.blogspot.ru/2014/12/cd-review-vozvraschenies-spring-land.html)
«…This conviction that verity operates, in some form, prior to modern and rational experience is clear in a couple of new releases from the Sketis label. Sketis specializes in modern interpretations of a Slavic folk heritage. One such publication, reflecting the same intentions, is from Moscow: Vozvraschenie (ВозвращениE or «Return»). That stage-name immediately speaks to a nostalgic gaze, cast lovingly backwards. On a more mundane level, the band was formed in 1999 by Sergey Kanunnikov with the explicit hope of «interweaving sounds from the past and present. In that way we managed to erase any difference between rhythms of a modern city and the Siberian taiga.» Vozvraschenie have played at a wide range of festivals around Russia, especially at events where the appeal of something ancient and «elemental» is most evident.
The title of the group’s newest LP is rendered as «Spring Land», in the sense of spring water. It’s a metaphor invoking an original source, so to speak. «Spring Land is an image of both Mother Earth and Love. It’s the image of a planet that gives birth to creative people, who — in turn — offer their kindness and warmth to others… Either by will or by destiny, a heart and soul return to their origins. You’ll have the sensation of experiencing something that happened very long ago.»
Verity again resides in the past, long before any human planning or pretension. The greatest distance from modernity lies, perhaps, in the aforementioned taiga, about which Kanunnikov has said the following: «Three years ago, we found ourselves at a tiny railway station outside Yoshkar-Ola. All along a riverbank we could see rare stalks of hogweed sticking out. They had long since dried up, so we carved them a little with penknives in order to make clumsy but functioning didgeridoos. Then the three of us — like mammoths! — went wandering along the edge of the forest, trumpeting loudly and heralding the start of spring. We could have woken bears in our path!» The musicians soon headed off to play at a local festival, inspired by the surrounding primordial landscape and having expressed some equally ancient emotions.
Vozvraschenie have sometimes likened their craft to the wandering minstrels or harlequins of medieval Slavic culture, the skomorokhs. «Their performances were simple, yet both radiant and full of rural creativity. These men did not limit themselves to performing spiritual verse; they’d also ridicule the vices of society’s elite — or mock local officials who were undeserving of their power. Songs, nursery rhymes, and spells… they’ve all survived until our age thanks to the painstaking work of collectors and other guardians of Russian culture. A lot of these materials include pagan motifs, which was yet another reason to subject the skomorokhs to severe persecution.»
~ David MacFadyen / Far From Moscow (http://www.farfrommoscow.com/articles/silver-wedding-port-mone-vozvraschenie-and-alhambra.html)