Featured Work
POLYGON OUT NOW ON DIGITAL, CD AND VINYL
Coordinates 50°07′N 78°43′E
Test Site Area ∼ 18,500 km²
Foundation Date - August 21, 1947
Closure Date - October 21, 1991
First Test - August 29, 1949
Last Test - October 19, 1989
Tests - 456
Underground - 340
In the atmosphere - 116
On the steppe in northeast Kazakhstan, the Semipalatinsk Test Site, known as ‘the Polygon’, was once home to nearly a quarter of the world’s nuclear testing.
The vast and flat landscape, the kind of place often misleadingly described as “uninhabited”, provided anonymity and isolation for the former Soviet Union leaders. However the steppe was also home to a delicate and thriving ecosystem made up of mountains, hills and pine forests running along the river Irtysh.
The region held a sacred meaning to Kazakhs. The birthplace of intellectual literature and culture, famous for its musicians, poets and writers.
For the inhabitants, the 465 nuclear tests conducted during its existence had dire consequences on an ancient landscape that supported traditional pasturelands with little regard for their effect on the local people or the environment, leading to devastating long-term impacts.
In 1989 one of the first major anti-nuclear movements “Nevada Semipalatinsk” was formed. It was spearheaded by author Olzhas Suleimenov and attracted thousands of people to its protests and campaigns which eventually led to the closure of the site in 1991.
TRACKS
Alash-kala
Saryzhal
Polygon
Sary-Uzen
Chagan
Balapan
Degelen
Alash-kala
Saryzhal
Polygon
Sary-Uzen
Chagan
Balapan
Degelen
ALL TRACKS COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY GALYA BISENGALIEVA
PUBLISHED BY ONE LITTLE INDEPENDENT RECORDS
RECORDED AT NOMAD MUSIC PRODUCTIONS
PRODUCED BY GALYA BISENGALIEVA, ROBERT AMES, BEN CORRIGAN
MIXED BY OLGA FITZROY AT AIR MANAGEMENT
MASTERED BY DENIS BLACKHAM AT SKYE MASTERING
VINYL CUT BY CHRISTIAN WRIGHT AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS
DESIGN BY SHREY KATHURIA
IMAGERY BY PHILIP HATCHER-MOORE
PUBLISHED BY ONE LITTLE INDEPENDENT RECORDS
RECORDED AT NOMAD MUSIC PRODUCTIONS
PRODUCED BY GALYA BISENGALIEVA, ROBERT AMES, BEN CORRIGAN
MIXED BY OLGA FITZROY AT AIR MANAGEMENT
MASTERED BY DENIS BLACKHAM AT SKYE MASTERING
VINYL CUT BY CHRISTIAN WRIGHT AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS
DESIGN BY SHREY KATHURIA
IMAGERY BY PHILIP HATCHER-MOORE
SARYZHAL SINGLE LISTEN HERE
ALASH-KALA SINGLE LISTEN HERE
BALAPAN SINGLE LISTEN HERE
POLYGON ALBUM ORDER HERE
ARALKUM OUT NOW ON DIGITAL, CD AND VINYL
THE SHRINKING OF THE ARAL SEA HAS BEEN CALLED ONE OF THE WORST ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS ON THE PLANET.
SITUATED IN CENTRAL ASIA, IT WAS ONCE THE FOURTH LARGEST LAKE IN THE WORLD, BUT THE RIVERS THAT FED THE ARAL WERE DIVERTED BY SOVIET IRRIGATION PROJECTS FROM THE 1960S. IT HAS BEEN DISAPPEARING EVER SINCE.
BY 1997, IT HAD DIMINISHED TO TEN PERCENT OF ITS ORIGINAL SIZE, AND SATELLITE IMAGES CAPTURED BY NASA IN AUGUST OF 2014 REVEALED THAT – FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MODERN HISTORY – THE EASTERN BASIN OF THE ARAL SEA HAD DRIED UP COMPLETELY, A REGION NOW KNOWN AS THE ARALKUM DESERT.
AS THE ARAL SEA DRIED UP, FISHERIES AND THE COMMUNITIES THAT DEPENDED ON THEM COLLAPSED. THE INCREASINGLY SALTY WATER BECAME POLLUTED WITH FERTILISERS AND PESTICIDES. THE DUST BLOWING FROM THE EXPOSED LAKEBED, CONTAMINATED WITH AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS, BECAME A PUBLIC HEALTH HAZARD. THE SALTY DUST BLEW OFF THE LAKEBED AND SETTLED ONTO FIELDS, DEGRADING THE SOIL. CROPLANDS WERE FLUSHED WITH INCREASINGLY LARGER VOLUMES OF RIVER WATER. THE LOSS OF THE MITIGATING INFLUENCE OF SUCH A LARGE BODY OF WATER MADE WINTERS COLDER, AND SUMMERS HOTTER AND DRIER.
IN A LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO SAVE THE LAKE, KAZAKHSTAN CONSTRUCTED THE KOKARAL DAM, SEPARATING THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN PARTS. THE DAM, SPANNING ACROSS 12 KILOMETRES, SEPARATES THE TWO BODIES OF WATER AND PREVENTS A DOWNWARD OUTFLOW. THANKS TO THE KOKARAL, FISHERIES IN THE NORTH HAVE REBOUNDED, IN SPITE OF IT LIMITING THE FLOW INTO THE SOUTH. WATER LEVELS RECOVERED NOTABLY BETWEEN 2005 AND 2006, WITH MINUTE IMPROVEMENTS RECORDED THROUGHOUT THE REMAINDER OF THE TIME PERIOD.
THE ALBUM IS SPLIT INTO THREE PARTS:
PRE-DISASTER, CALAMITY, FUTURE.
COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY GALYA BISENGALIEVA
RECORDED AT NOMAD MUSIC PRODUCTIONS
PRODUCED BY ROBERT AMES, BEN CORRIGAN
MIXED BY ROBERT SOMA-LEWIS AT AMBIENT WORKS
MASTERED BY DENIS BLACKHAM
DESIGN BY XIAOFEISTUDIO
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY NASA
BARSA-KELMES SINGLE LISTEN HERE
KANTUBEK SINGLE LISTEN HERE
1ST EDITION VINYL (SOLD OUT)
LIMITED EDITION GREEN VINYL ORDER HERE
EP ONE OUT NOW ON DIGITAL AND LIMITED EDITION VINYL
TRACKS
TùsClaire M Singer
Tulpar
Galya Bisengalieva
Oparin
Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Recorded at Spitfire Audio, London
Engineers: Harry Wilson & Simon Hendry
Assistant Engineer: Henry Cornish
All tracks mastered by Denis Blackham
Photography: Nicol Vizioli
Design: Baxter and Bailey
TULPAR
Composed by Galya Bisengalieva
Directed by Nicol Vizioli
Cinematographer: Andrew Rodger
Editor: Laura Delle Piane
LIMITED EDITION VINYL PURCHASE HERE
EP TWO OUT NOW ON DIGITAL AND LIMITED EDITION VINYL
TRACKS
Zohra
Shiva Feshareki
Creative mixdown by Loraine James
Umay
Galya Bisengalieva
Claycorn
CHAINES
Tulpar - ACTRESS 26 Drones Remix
(digital bonus)
Recorded at Spitfire Audio, London
Engineers: Harry Wilson & Simon Hendry
Assistant Engineer: Henry Cornish
All tracks mastered by Denis Blackham
Design - Baxter and Bailey
UMAY
Composed by Galya Bisengalieva
From acclaimed Director Grant Gee, writer Iain Sinclair, and producer Janine Marmot working with Asheninka co-producer Gregorio Santos Perez, THE GOLD MACHINE combines documentary and fiction to reveal the traces of a dark history. A father and daughter are haunted by the legacy of their ancestor — a Victorian botanist sent to the Peruvian jungle to scout for coffee-growing land. Retracing the ancestor’s colonial adventure reveals the brutal reality of a major land grab from the native Ashaninka people who try to wrest their land and story back.
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Composed by Galya Bisengalieva
From acclaimed Director Grant Gee, writer Iain Sinclair, and producer Janine Marmot working with Asheninka co-producer Gregorio Santos Perez, THE GOLD MACHINE combines documentary and fiction to reveal the traces of a dark history. A father and daughter are haunted by the legacy of their ancestor — a Victorian botanist sent to the Peruvian jungle to scout for coffee-growing land. Retracing the ancestor’s colonial adventure reveals the brutal reality of a major land grab from the native Ashaninka people who try to wrest their land and story back.
UMAY SINGLE LISTEN HERE
LIMITED EDITION VINYL (SOLD OUT)
