The Clockwork Menagerie

Radio Liberty included him in the list of six most interesting Russian contemporary poets. Two years after his ratable debut album, The French Rabbit Alexander Levin has released the second solo album that continues his tradition of non-ordinary synthesis of music and poetry. Yet there are some distinctions, too. Even at the first glance one can notice the significant technical and musical improvement in the second Levin's work. It utilizes live sounds much more often, and use computer synthesised music only as a matter of expression, to emphasize the album's main concept, the synthesis of the animate and the inanimate in music and poetry. As the author himself jokingly defines it, "Birdies and alarm-clockies are singing together". The Clockwork Menagerie is far less childish album than The French Rabbit. Such serious pieces as Permafrost, the tragic ballad, or eleven-minutes philosofic parable The Insectarium (Songs of Earth And Heaven) could hardly fit in playful and cheerful first album. But humour and wordplays are belong to this as well -- enough to mention The Media Report, boogie with balalaika and funky piano solo, or Levin's trademarked "linguistic animals", such as Naked Tothewaist or Onthesly. And it's still hard, if possible at all, to determine the genre of this album. Free and artistic play with musical and poetical styles is the only definition of it. Besides Alexander Levin himself (vocals, acoustic guitar, arrangements), musicians of Levin And Kids band participated in recordigs. They are Andrey Levin (keyboards, arrangements), George Levin (electric guitar), Elena Malakhova (balalaika) and untimely died Oksana Sheetova (giutar). The album was recorded at L@H Studio in the spring and summer of 1998, produced by Andrey Levin and Andrey Zachesov. Cover art by Alexander Asmanov.