Review | Songlines

Summer in Lviv

Rating: ★★

View album and artist details

Album and Artist Details

Artist/band:

The Ukrainians

Label:

Zirka Records

July/2019

It's 30 years since the creation of The Ukrainians, a unique phenomenon of British-indie-rock-meets-Ukrainian-tradition. It began with guitarist Peter Solowka (who had the Ukrainian heritage) and The Wedding Present recording a session for BBC Radio's John Peel show. Their songs are electric-guitar-led rock songs, sung in Ukrainian with accordion to add an Eastern European twist. Their continued success in Ukraine and elsewhere in the region suggests a nostalgia for classic rock'n'roll.

The title-track is a celebration of one of the country's most beautiful cities, with distorted guitars and thrashing drums. ‘Summer in Lviv will last forever,’ they cry. ‘Zvidky Vy?’ is more satirical, about how everybody asks Ukrainian workers abroad ‘where do you come from?’. ‘Sterezhitsya Kozakivi’ (Beware of the Kozaks) is alarmingly catchy. There isn't a song yet about a comedian who plays the president actually becoming the president, but you feel there could be.

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