“Synthesizers help me maximally feel the present moment.” It’s with this quote that Kedr Livanskiy explains her approach to music making. After her ‘January Sun’ debut, an EP entirely recorded and produced with Ableton, the Russian songwriter and producer has been working with “real” instruments (a Roland SH-101, a Roland Juno 106 and a Korg Minilogue) on this, her first album, achieving a more elegant sound than she has before.

Gaining in nuance hasn’t made the music lose its power, though: ‘Za Oknom Vesna’ has a hypnotic house beat, while ‘ACDC’, featuring Martin Newell reading William Blake, is reminiscent of Fatboy Slim’s big beat. It’s in tracks like ‘Sad One’, with its mellow psychedelic shades, or the elegant, dreamy synth-pop combination of the opening title track and ‘Sunrise Stop’, that the new sound shows its full potential.

There’s still room to grow for the Moscow producer, but she’s already a big step forward: from the harsh Russian winter to the magic of Romanticism, smoothing the rough edges off her peculiar sonic adventure.