During the album recording sessions, I limited myself to a certain setup: electric guitar, looper, delay/reverb pedal, and a 4-track portable tape recorder. This helped me to concentrate on expressing the moods instead of being distracted by the necessity of choosing the instrument and timbre. Each track was a result of a single recording session. By means of sound, I tried to express some sort of a “stream” feeling; that’s why it was important to me to stay in this state myself, not to ruin the general picture and make the album as solid as possible.


Reviews:

“The album unfolds over the course of a day, from morning to afternoon to evening to dusk, with track titles reflecting the passage of time. The message is clear: years pass, seasons change, but we all get one day at a time. The impression is one of living in the moment. The artist’s approach ~ a single recording session per track ~ reflects this looseness. One may surrender to the slow drift of the music as a leaf surrenders to the flow of the brook.” - Richard Allen, A Closer Listen acloserlisten.com/2019/08/15/valotihkuu-by-the-river/


"A day spent meandering along the banks of a quiet river in the company of only one’s own thoughts and the sounds of gently lapping water, rustling leaves, or a crackling fire. It is a respite and a renewal our modern life rarely affords, but for about 40 minutes, one can travel to such a state of mind with By the River by Valotihkuu, an ambient project from Russian musician Denis Davydov.

While you don’t have to look far to find ambient recordings on such themes, there is a gossamer beauty to his diaphanous webs of guitar, an immaculate shimmer and a rare quality of stillness that really captures the essence of retreating into nature and solitude, perhaps something akin to an audio version of forest bathing. For a dose of grace and tranquility or a much needed mental reset, look no further than this lovely record." - Stationary Travels stationarytravels.wordpress.com/2019/11/15/sound-impression-by-the-river-by-valotihkuu/

(in Italian)

"Sotto l’alias Valotihkuu, Denis Davydov dispensa frequenti bozzetti elettro-acustici radicati nella contemplazione e nell’esplorazione di paesaggi naturali. Gran parte delle creazioni dell’artista russo è semplicemente resa disponibile in formato digitale attraverso la sua pagina Bandcamp ma, come già avvenuto lo scorso anno con “Fragile Melodies”, alcune di esse trovano un canale di realizzazione fisica e ufficiale. È quel che avviene per le otto tracce di “By The River”, che descrivono l’intero arco di una giornata trascorsa in un contesto naturale e nello stesso catturate in presa diretta, incorniciate dai suoi stessi suoni concreti.

L’attrezzatura strumentale volutamente scarna impiegata da Davydov ha reso il processo creativo ancor più spontaneo, in modo da rispecchiare con immediatezza sfumature atmosferiche e sensazioni originate dalla relazione con l’ambiente naturale. Il lavoro si svolge così secondo un coerente iter narrativo, che muove da un brulicante chiarore aurorale per poi descrivere estatici languori diurni e infine colorarsi di una sottile malinconia crepuscolare. Il tutto è rappresentato con estrema delicatezza e cura degli aspetti melodici, definiti attraverso espanse risonanze chitarristiche ed effetti che, anche grazie alle tecniche di registrazione analogica impiegate, conferiscono una cornice di fragile calore a una baluginante galleria di impressionistici scorci ambientali." musicwontsaveyou.com/2019/08/30/valotihkuu-by-the-river/


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