Umlauts:

Valerij Meladze - Saliut, Vera!

I'm having a really bad week. Trains, planes, disappointment, work ethic down, self-esteem non-existant. But for a brief, shining movement, I was saved. Saved by an Eastern European man (who's pretty ugly), seemingly stuck halfway between a crooner and a pop singer, a tone as bold as brass and a tune that rouses something inside of me despite being as shallow as a wading pool.

I first noticed Valerij a while ago when he did a duet with (I think) Ukrainian girl-group Via Gra, who had to change their name in some territories for obvious reasons (NB this post may be full of factual inaccuracies), but he has really caught my ear with this song, which stood out a mile amongst the various songs I took with me on my so-far very disappointing weekend jaunt.

Saliut, Vera! is a bit of a swinging, swaying monster. Strings dance all over the place. A pre-chorus comes sweeping into view, nicely disguised as a chorus itself, before the proper chorus tosses it aside and begs "Forget that, listen to me", and hooks, and they go on for miles. When I say crooner above, I really mean it in the sense of an adherent to a cheesy, overdone style of pop theatrics that's usually a complete turn off, but this song is a great bit of theatre.

I think what elevates this somewhat above a lot of the other similar stuff is that it's quite a bit more kinetic and flowing. The beat is crisp and smooth. The pace is hurried, but not urgent. The drama is more of the flag-raising, praising kind rather than the tortured excesses of dying or unrequited love and there's something vaguely comforting and uplifting and humorous about the whole affair that makes me adore it despite its faintly detectable air of cheapness and corniness.

Saliut!

posted by Edward O @ 4:47 AM