An amazing Finnish journalist Tuomas Harviainen has written a review about new album by Theodor Bastard for the magazine Kultturivihkot. It was released in the rubric «Top soundtracks for our quarantine times»:
«”The Russian-Karelian arts collective, Theodor Bastard, formed around Fedor Svolotch, in turn keeps changing its style from one disc to the next. They make game music as well as ethno, and one never knows what is coming next.
Their newest album, Volch’ya Yagoda (2020), is however quite traditional modern folk music, where one can hear both nyckelharpa and jouhikko. The band, as always, shows here its’ members’ undeniable mastery over what they decide to do.
Yana Veva’s is just as big a pleasure to hear as always, in any genre. And the material dances brilliantly between the clichés of Slavonic folk, Eurovision song contest mentality, and machine influences, but never ever crosses over to being corny in any way.
The single from the album, Les, is soft and beautiful. It does not really stand apart in style from the other pieces, but the lack of a clear “hit” often does good for albums in this genre. Due to that, on the other hand, for example Urzala shines out with its strength. The band’s instruments are clearly recognizable from each other and the album’s production quality is nothing short of perfect. So if you are like me and feel bad about missing the Kaustinen folk festival this year due to the circumstances, this album should work as an excellent substitute.»