СОЮЗ

Belarusian ensemble Soyuz return with Krok, their fourth and most affecting album to date, and recorded between Warsaw, Sao Paulo and Stockholm. The title, meaning "step" in Belarusian, reflects the band's own uncertain journey: forced from Minsk amid political turmoil, Alex Chumak and his group rebuilt their lives and sound abroad. Trading their usual tongue for Belarusian, Chumak channels both distance and belonging through nine songs about dreams, cosmic drift and quiet resilience. Tracked straight to tape with Brazilian collaborators Sessa, Biel Basile and Marcelo Cabral, and later embellished with Polish Radio strings and Sven Wunder's Stockholm keys, Krok drifts between folk reverie, chamber pop and jazz-laced introspection, with highlights from the spectral 'Voo Livre', the voile-thin duet 'Lingua Do Mundo' with Tim Bernardes, and the tender epilogue 'Smak Zyccia'.