Hidden Element, the electronic project of Ukrainian musician Ihor Kyrylenko, has released the single Illyah from his upcoming EP Differences. It is being released on Czech label YUKU, and the musician played it live for the first time at the MOT art space in April. DTF Magazine presents the premiere of the live video and takes a closer look at the release
‘Illyah is a very personal and intimate track. It’s dedicated to a person who gave his life for the freedom of Ukraine, — Ihor Kyrylenko tells DTF Magazine in a commentary. — That’s the person with whom I worked and created the music’.
According to the musician, while writing the track he communicated a lot with the brother of the deceased and transferred his emotions and experiences into the composition: ‘I would like this music to encourage people to appreciate more what they have right now — a loved one, love, life, fresh air, etc. I had a similar message in my performance at MOT: everything is temporary and fleeting. Sometimes we have no idea how much’.
Hidden Element first played this track publicly during a chamber performance at MOT in April. Together with the musician, we present a live video. ‘There wouldn’t be this fullness without you and your space. Meaningfulness. This performance gave me a lot of thoughts’, Ihor adds’.
The Differences EP will include seven tracks recorded during the full-scale invasion, which will also be a follow-up to Hidden Element’s previous release — Ranges. It focuses on love, family, friends, relationships and breakups, and is about the inestimable things that often go unnoticed and the irrevocable loss of important people. ‘Differences combines a sentimental mood and an energetic vibe that constantly alternate with each other’.
The EP will be released in digital format on June 27.
The cover for the album was created by Ukrainian artist Mitya Fenechkin.
About the live performance at MOT
For the chamber performance at MOT, Ihor, together with the drummer and leader of Hyphen Dash, Misha Birchenko, prepared a special program filled with ambient and breakbeat. The live performance was accompanied by a video installation created by director Maksym Deliergiev and light designer Volodymyr Poloziuk. The team used documentary footage of old historic buildings in Kyiv, filmed before russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24.
‘The MOT location made me think about the temporality of things around us, — Ihor explained the idea behind the performance. — russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine can erase your family, your favorite places you have fond memories of or unique buildings. I want the viewers of our performance to appreciate more what’s around them right now: the person they love, the air, the time and space in which they exist’.
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Hidden Element is an electronic project founded by Kyiv musicians Ihor Kyrylenko and Nil Tarasov in 2011. At the beginning of 2021 Nil left the duo, and Ihor began to develop the project solo.
He combines breakbeat, techno and ambient in his music, and his works are mostly inspired by the soundtracks of classic science-fiction movies.
