“Krok” means “step” in Belarusian - and for Alex Chumak and his band this word comes with a lot of meaning. It’s the title and theme that run throughout СОЮЗ (SOYUZ)'s fourth album, reflecting the journeys the band has navigated in recent years, having moved to Warsaw due to political unrest in their homeland of Belarus and the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Embracing the uncertainty became both the inspiration and main lyrical theme for Alex Chumak, SOYUZ’ composer and arranger, who also decided to go a step further and change the language in which he writes songs from Russian, which is used as lingua franca in many post-Soviet countries, to his native Belarusian. The result is nine songs about dreams and outer space, ordinary miracles, things very close and very distant at the same time. 

In early 2022, Chumak and original members, Mikita Arlou and Anton Nemahai, joined tens of thousands of Belarusians seeking safety abroad. Resettling in Warsaw, the band released Force of the Wind in October 2022, garnering widespread acclaim, a string of major European gigs, and led to Polish musicians Albert Karch and Igor Wiśniewski joining the band.

Deeper and more melancholic than previous works, KROK is quintessentially SOYUZ, laced with hope, dreams and a celebration of life. Given the difficulties with finding rehearsal and recording spaces in Warsaw and the departure of the drummer Anton Nemahai from the band, Chumak explored alternative options. He reached out to friend and fellow musical collaborator, Sessa, about the possibility of recording the new album in his recently finished studio in São Paulo, with Sessa and Biel Basile coming onboard as recording engineers.

At the tail end of 2024, Chumak and SOYUZ’ new drummer, Albert Karch, made the trip to São Paulo to record the first sessions for KROK. Laid down directly to tape, these sessions featured prominent Brazilian musicians Sessa, Biel Basile, and Marcelo Cabral, with a guest vocal feature by Tim Bernardes recorded at a later date. The final touches were then added back in Europe. Lush string and woodwind arrangements written by Chumak and Karch were recorded at the Polish Radio studio in Warsaw, and Rhodes parts were added by Chumak at Sven Wunder’s studio in Stockholm.

Though primarily recorded in Brazil, KROK is not a Brazilian or MPB album. It blends the band’s Eastern European roots with jazz, folk and global influences. The genre of the music is hardly identifiable: there are folk ballads and jazz-driven pop compositions covered in lush and often dissonant string and woodwind arrangements where each note is placed with care and meaning behind it.

The title track was the first song Chumak wrote in Belarusian as an adult, making for a fitting opener and one of the band’s finest tracks. Darker than most of SOYUZ’ songs, the tensions lift and lighten as the track progresses. The cinematic library jazz of 'Voo Livre', with ghostly vocals sung by Ciça Góes and Ina, feels like a modern twist on the Italian library composer Alessandro Alessandroni through its sublime choir and woodwind orchestration. Elsewhere, the heartfelt 'Lingua Do Mundo', composed, written, and sung by Chumak and the incredible Tim Bernardes, features one of the standout string arrangements from Chumak and Karch. 'Cichi Karahod' is an instant SOYUZ classic, almost Pat Metheny-esque as it opens, with the acoustic guitar and bass riff transitioning into jazzy AOR / pop-folk territory. The record closes with 'Smak žyćcia', a gentle, dreamy spoken-word poetry piece in Japanese by singer-songwriter Manami Kakudo. 

Despite immense challenges, SOYUZ have delivered a career-defining album in KROK.


KROK

The first single to be taken from СОЮЗ (SOYUZ)'s enthralling fourth album KROK, sees the release of the emotive and personal title track. “Krok” means “step” in Belarusian - and for Alex Chumak and his band this word comes with a lot of meaning. It’s a theme running throughout the album, reflecting the journeys the band has navigated in recent years. 
 
In early 2022, Chumak and original members, Mikita Arlou and Anton Nemahai, joined tens of thousands of Belarusians seeking safety from the political unrest in their homeland and the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Resettling in Warsaw, the band released Force of the Wind in October 2022, garnering widespread acclaim, a string of major European gigs, and led to Polish musicians Albert Karch and Igor Wiśniewski joining the band.
 
Embracing the uncertainty became both the inspiration and main lyrical theme for Alex Chumak, SOYUZ’ composer and arranger. ‘Krok’ was one of the initial songs written for the new album and was the first to feature lyrics. It paved the way for Chumak to find the new poetic language on the record - for the first time in his native Belarusian language. Chumak demoed the song whilst he was still in Minsk in early 2022, and then, as he and his band moved to Poland, he continued developing it. In September 2024, together with other songs, Alex took it on a trip to São Paulo, where he recorded it with the help of his longtime friend and collaborator Sessa and extraordinary musicians Biel Basile and Marcelo Cabral.
 
It is a song about transition and migration, in which this act is poetically reduced to “a step” – into the unknown and unexplored. While singing about it, Chumak also makes a step forward musically. He delivers his very atypical view on samba, which doesn’t pretend to sound Brazilian. A strict yet loose rhythm section is covered with layers of tense acoustic guitars, aleatoric piano lines, and a lush yet restrained arrangement for strings and flutes.
 
This ethereal opening track is taster of the magic to come from СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) new career-defining album.


Крок / Krok

The second single taken from СОЮЗ (SOYUZ)’s career-defining fourth album KROK comes in the form of ‘Ніці / Nici’. A dreamy, timeless production, it showcases SOYUZ’s composer, Alex Chumak’s brilliance as an arranger. Almost genre-less in quality, the music incorporates elements of AOR, jazz, and folk, but the structure and interplay between the instruments feel unique and are a testament to Chumak’s original thinking as a modern composer.

Broadly speaking, ‘Ніці / Nici’ is a song about the strange nature of dreams. Both wistful and hopeful in the same breath, that ethereal essence carries through as Chumak effortlessly rides the melodies with his signature soft vocal tones. Across this fourth album, Chumak took the step to change the language in which he writes songs from Russian, which is used as lingua franca in many post-Soviet countries, to his native Belarusian. The poetic nature of that switch shines in ‘Ніці / Nici’, with a distinct delicacy and intimacy to Chumak’s delivery. Deft Rhodes playing and a shimmering string arrangement by Chumak, coupled with a laidback beat by Biel Basile and electric bass from Marcelo Cabral, form the breezy basis of the song. Alex’s celestial vocals and the hypnotising, gently phasing guitar melodies loop around the ether, leaning ever further into the dreamstate nature of the song.
 
On first listen, due to its mellow nature, the production on ‘Ніці / Nici’ feels stripped back. But as you delve deeper into the song, its rich and delicate textures appear, and their subtle use transforms what first felt minimal into something understatedly expansive.


Ніці / Nici

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) – Lingua Do Mundo (feat. Tim Bernardes)

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) – Калі ты запытаеш : Kali ty zapytaješ

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) – VCB

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) – P7 Blues

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) – Смак жыцця : Smak žyćcia (feat. Manami Kakudo)

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) – Ціхі карагод : Cichi karahod

СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) – Voo Livre

Record label. Record shop. Film label. Since 1989.

KROK

Mr Bongo