Cotenius X is the duo that stops making sense. It’s an exploratory improvisational project of the Ukrainian sound artist Daria Redkina and the Russian experimental vocalist Varya Pavlova aka Lisokot. Improvising together since 2017 they incorporate folk, electronic and musique concrète elements into their spontaneous compositions. Their theatrical performances involve impersonation or adoption of different characters and are informed by social, historical, and site-specific narratives.

Both Redkina and Pavlova work with loops, synths and effects, reshaping various samples into novel forms. “Oceans In Flames”, for example, evokes a slowly evolving sound field that sprouts, collapses and decays under flickering fluorescent bulbs. The effect is not dissimilar to the epic catastrophic landscape paintings, but remixed for our own AI-saturated end times.

Most of the tracks on Plastic Bag are recordings of live shows. “Burunduk” is taken from the duo’s first ever performance and sees Pavlova impersonating animal spirits – forest sprites and haunted chipmunks abound. Meanwhile “Fukushima Tuna” and the album’s title track employ the talents of avant-garde saxophonist Sergey Letov who sows seeds of optimism onto the scorched plastic soil tilled by Cotenius X.

Plastic Bag coalesced during the four years that Redkina and Pavlova improvised together. Being based in different countries and despite the challenges of the global pandemic and the rising geopolitical tensions of subsequent years, the album is a testament to collaboration; an archival reflection of the time the duo spent experimenting together.

The album’s artwork was created by Pavel Pepperstein, a conceptual graphic artist, whose interpretation of the music manifested in an impossibly surreal group portrait that nods towards Nikolai Gogol, Salvador Dalí and The Residents. The duo have, in fact, been compared to The Residents and see themselves carrying the psychedelic absurdity of the US group forward by giving it a feminine twist.

TRACKLIST:

A1. Intro

A2. Oceans in Flames

A3. Burunduk

B1. Plastic Bag (feat. Sergey Letov)

B2. Fukushima Tuna (feat. Sergey Letov)

B3. Melting Pot

B4. Udarnitsy