Navona Records presents European/American composer Svjetlana Bukvich’s latest album: Extension, a collection of pieces that use technology, music, and the motions of dance to both deconstruct and reimagine ideas of genre and cultural division...

Extension, sees Svjetlana Bukvich delivering 10 (43 min, 05 sec) very different, pieces. Bukvich describes herself as aiming for a “no-genre-borderless-flow” with her music and she manages to capture that spirit: mixing together everything from American minimalism, art and progressive rock, and German classicism, to Italian polyphony, Russian romanticism, jazz, and ethnic idioms.

The end result is a cinematic style that is pretty unique. From the opening whispers of the electric violin in 'The Beginning' to the evocative title track 'Extension' which mingles both voice and synth, the album is a sweeping conversation between the natural and technological. The album flits between pop, electronica, classical and mixes in a hint of jazz. It's this melting pot of styles that makes this album far greater than the sum of its parts.

'The Beginning' has elements of the experimental style of The BBC's Radiophonic Workshop's output in the '70s. 'Once You Are a Stranger' appears in three different forms: the original, a vocal version and a reprise - all very different interpretations of the same basic idea. 'Tattoo' has elements of musical theatre as well as opera.

At times a thing of beauty, at others a thoughtful self-reflective piece of modern art, Extension is an engaging and thoroughly enjoyable album.

8

Darren Rea