Muutused/Zminy

Svjata Vatra were formed in 2005 when Ukrainian singer and trombonist Ruslan Trochynskyi moved to Estonia and teamed up with local musicians. Muutused/Zminy (whose bilingual title translates as ‘Changes’) is the band's sixth studio album, and certainly displays an ever-changing sound, from the drama of ‘Kohannja Zminyt Vse’ to the boisterous knees-up of ‘Marichka Chycheri’. Funky bass lines blend with ocarinas and Estonian bagpipes. There are moments of swaggering musical freneticism that recall Gogol Bordello or a Cossack version of The Pogues.

While the interplay between whistles and flutes, trombone and guitars is very effective, the use of Jew's harp is a little grating in places, and the music-loving world could probably manage without the frantic rendition of ‘You Are My Sunshine’ (which appears here as ‘Oj, To Ne Ruzha’). Guest vocals from Rute Trochynskyi work well, and the duet ‘Oj U Poli Dva Dubky’ sees Svjata Vatra at their most charmingly accessible; it is a lilting pop tune, which is reminiscent of Gotye's 2011 hit ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’.

There is a strong sense of playfulness in this music. Svjata Vatra's latest album shows how unexpectedly enjoyable and uplifting Estonian/Ukrainian folk-rock can be.