Tonight: “Prostitution”

Yesterday in Moscow a fourth album was released by the St Petersburg band “Tonight” (Segodnia noch’iu).  The first thing to note here is that Tonight use the Russian name exclusively, but it’s a bit tough on English speakers, so we’ve gone for a (significantly easier!) translation.  The second point worth making up front is that “Prostitution” is an impressive piece of work.

The album’s title comes in the wake of Russia’s recent pains on the stock markets, which – according to some rumors – have knocked perhaps $20 billion from the portfolios of major oligarchs.  Risks and dangers this great change human behavior – for the worse.

“Somewhere or other, stock market indices tumble:  all of a sudden, somebody will either become rich or lose everything in currency trading.  People who know what’s what, however, also know there’s only one big event this autumn…”

Cue the general sound of people shuffling towards record shops.

“There are different kinds of prostitution.  Some people might offer themselves openly.  Others might get their cash on the sly.  Another person will pull off a dirty deal, surrounding themselves with glitter and gold.  Yet another will use a veneer of virtue to hide their sense of shame.  None of this changes the core issue, though.  Prostitution is never honest.”

“There is, all the same, such a thing as honest music.  Open, straightforward, rough & ready music.  No falseness, no PC, and no cutting corners. “

This desire to cut through the usual “nonsense” has been audible in all the studio work and subsequent PR around the new album.  Whether it’s driven by a stubborn expression of honesty, come what may, or simply a pose of “subversion” in the name of loud promotion depends upon your degree of cynicism.

The issue has been clearest of all surrounding one of the tracks entitled “B****” – which, were we to print the whole word, would give us one of the worst expressions in the Russian language, used – not by chance – to designate a prostitute.

Of that track and its role on the CD, frontman Nikita Kozlov said recently:  “The album’s much tougher-sounding than our previous releases.  We plan making a video for one of the songs, called ‘B****.’  The song’s not going to get played on radio, since it’ll be considered offensive.  So we’ll make a video, even if that probably won’t make its way onto TV, either.  At least it’ll survive on line.”

This, in essence, is the core issue that’ll probably determine your attitude towards the band.  Their history is hardly a happy one, and this feisty stance they’ve adopted for the fourth CD is either an admirable, prickly honesty after years of mistreatment by the music industry, or it’s a stance of “danger” merely for the sake of PR – in times of lessening popularity.

The back-story is as follows.  The band was formed in 2001and were blessed not only with big-label interest (from CD Land), but also enjoyed the services of Il’ia Lagutenko as producer of their first album.  MTV sat up and noticed.   Problems within the band, however, conspired to spoil this sudden, successful time in the limelight.  Before the group’s second CD was ready, Tonight had already fallen to pieces.  When the ensemble reconvened, only Kozlov remained.

It’s this fall from grace and the band’s internal wrangling that – paradoxically – make “Prostitution” such a pleasant surprise.  This is a very well-produced album, pitched perfectly between the shambolic structures of pub-rock and the kind of solid rhythm section that’s begging for a bigger stage.

Tonight make no secret of their desire to find a Western audience – or at least overseas respect.  They sing almost exclusively in Russian, but whenever they do present material in English – like “Homo-Scan” on this album – they’ve clearly paid much attention to the texts and translations (a rare thing among Slavic performers…)

Kozlov’s deliberately shambolic delivery reminds of how and why Oleg Chubykin has been so successful in bringing an Anglo-style to Russia;  Kozlov and Chubykin both work in ways that would suggest Ray Davies to Western ears, backed by the kind of bass & tumbling drums that seemed plucked from Oasis‘ “Roll with It.”

Neither of those two influences are especially adventurous, but they do underscore the fact that Kozlov’s Tonight pride themselves as songwriters, a rare entity east of Poland.  The taut, traditional structures of Prostitution prove that Tonight are more than deserving of a second spell – in bigger venues and under brighter lights.

Download music and images from this site to your smartphone!  Go to www.cloudtrade.com and look for us under far_from_moscow