Andrey Mishchenko - Love Is The Reason

Hear The Track Here

Andrey Mishchenko is, as you can imagine, Russian. No surprise there. he comes from Valdivostock and I first met him when I reviewed his September 29 (Window to the Fall) (May 2010) and promptly feel into the bear trap of comparing his classical style - it's a solo piano piece - to all manner of Russian classical tradition. 'This is a fine example of emotional, colourful expressiveness' although this didn't really transfer to the second track I reviewed - also a piano piece. So by this time I've grabbed completely the wrong end of the stick and classified Andrey as yer typical moody classicist. Metal Lullaby (July 2010) crushed that idea under its heavy metal jackboot and - as good as it was - didn't really rise from being a decent rock instrumental.

And then there is this... I'm not even sure where to start.

Truth is, the first time I heard this I thought Andrey must be joking but then the more the song developed the more obvious it became that he was serious about it. Firstly, it is a song, and the first one from him I suspect. Well, lets get it said and out in the open, Andrey is not a singer. Not in any form. As someone who has made a study of Russian musical styles, I do understand what he is aiming for here but his voice is definitely not up to the job. Despite the extreme bad manners of plugging myself, I am going to go ahead because I have a track called Love Is All that features exactly the kind of voice that would fit this song.

Love Is The Reason is a ballad, and I admit to a hatred of them although this is only one of the problems of this track, especially to Western ears because Andrey has a major accent. Shame really because the song itself is quite pretty, even if the whole thing is carried by an acoustic piano. The idea behind the song is sound too, as are the way Andrey puts it across. There will be those who like this because of those qualities and I must admit it has that charm about after the initial shock wears off. I've been wrong about vocalists before too, being slow to recognise a hitherto hidden ability or characteristic. Who knows how this one will develop...

Good song, but probably regional in scope.