Based on traditional Russian folk songs, Cocoon is the first US release from singer Inna Zhelannaya. Joining the vocalist on this release is former King Crimson warr-guitarist Trey Gunn, Gennadiy Lavrentyev on tabla & violin, vocalist & harp player Pavel Lapygin, Oleg Mariakhin on sax, and Margarita Tagunova on 'casting a spell' (whatever that might be).
The Russian singer and crew have put together a very folky, ambient feel for Cocoon. Most of the songs have a tranquil, hypnotic, electronic element going through them, with Zhelannaya's voice drifting over the top of layers of sparse instrumentation. "Naya Naya" is quite trance inducing, as Inna's gorgeous vocals lull you into a meditative state, supplemented by her gentel flute melodies and Gunn's warr-guitar explorations. On "The River", there's almost a 'space rock' type of thing happening, before some programmed tribal beats and spoken word vocalizations come into play, and the more poppy "Pavushka" has some addicting melodies to go along with Gunn's far reaching lines.
Though there's some nice material here, Cocoon is probably going to find a very limited audience. For one, all the songs are sung in Russian, and many of the pieces here all follow a similar pattern and are very interchangeable from one another. Not a lot of varying of tempo or mood to be found, save for the quirky & fun "Mower", which has some wild violin strains from Lavrentyev. Still, if you want to experiment with some ambient interpretations of Russian folk songs, you might want to investigate this one.
Track Listing
1. Grief 5:05
2. Well 5:55
3. Naya Naya 6:20
4. Youth 7:23
5. The River 6:43
6. Drunk 6:36
7. Pavushka 9:28
8. Early Early 5:52
9. Mower 5:46
10. Manechka 9:29
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