Wow! It's been ages since I've heard anything from Uhushuhu, formerly of St. Petersburg, Russia, now located now in Dilijan, Armenia, for obvious reasons. Way back when Uhushuhu was one of the prominent luminaries on the marvelous Russian label, Zhelezobeton, run by Artem O. At this point in time the Uhushuhu project consists of Pavel Dombrovsky – lyrics, guitars, bass, melodica, drums, synthesizers, field recordings, samples, mixing; D. Rylov (Prorok) – spoken word, vocal processing; Dmitry N. Shilov (Neznamo) – bass , synthesizers; K. Borozda – guitar. Being out of the Uhushuhu loop for so long, I really didn't know what to expect. The artist(s) describe 'To Those Lost in the Woods' as "A tense musical and poetic journey through the night." Opening track, "How Mine Smothers in You" begins with an ominous atmosphere, and then a spoken word voice-over in Russian. Fortunately Uhushuhu provides an English translation on their Bandcamp site. It's quite poetic but also quite dark, and too lengthy to quote much of it here but the first stanza should give you a taste.

"How mine in you smolders in a northwesterly wind,
How the dead at morning no longer begin,
How puddles hold water, how milk fills a dish,
How firewood flames, how butterflies wish.
So the leaves, so the sand,
So a god grown tired of his plan.
So a stream through the trees does it go,
Filling furrows where buckwheat will grow."

While the first track is primarily atmospheric, "Soil" has a repeating bass or low guitar line with sustained synth string pad. It sounds like something out of a Twin Peaks soundtrack. Once again there is a Russian voice-over. The gloominess is palpable and pervasive. In the middle a riffing saxophone emerges. Perfect. Color me impressed. NeXT, we're headed "Down The River" with a broader musical palette on this one. Again there is a Russian recitation, but the music is more like hypnotic ambient krautrock. "Foliage" sounds like it was based on a folk tune and has a kind of Slavic melody to it. I don't know why this one has me thinking of Mortiis, but it does.

We are back in dark ambient territory on "Ryba," and yes, there is another Russian recitation. They're beginning to grow on me and sort of add a documentary cinematic touch. "After a Beetle" is industrial dark ambient with ritual acoustic percussion (some sort of hand drums) and a distant flute. I can picture sullen men in a circle with painted faces perhaps imbibing some sort of psychedelic brew. What strange ceremonial ritual is taking place? Inquiring minds want to know! Whew! After all that I'm ready to "Fall Asleep," the title of the final track on the album. Uhushuhu is back to a more melodic format on this one with a repeating guitar figure in the forefront. It's kind of bittersweet and dream-like. Nice, and the perfect way to end this extraordinary album. Another one mastered to perfection by Peter Andersson. Although it helps, I don't think you have to understand Russian to appreciate 'To Those Lost in the Woods' A surprisingly delightful work, in the darkest of of ways.