#you guessed it! Stanislavsky Electrotheatre!

[the-astronome]

Apparently unpopular opinion, but what I can judge from the screenshots we got today, the Capital is not just St. Petersburg, it’s more of a melange between St. Petersburg and Moscow. (Tbh, we got just one shot of the capital, so any opinion here is not really objective, but whatever)

Okay, so there is this:

My first thought was “wow is that inspired by Nevsky or by Tverskaya?”. (i. e. Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg and Tverskaya Street in Moscow). Consensus on Twitter is that this photo stinks of Nevsky vibes, however, I would like to point out several things, e. g. there are no sunny days in St Petersburg from architecture of the two Russian capitals to game design decisions made to create an atmosphere of a certain time period.

1) Architecture

I recall some people seeing the picture above and instantly suggesting Nevsky as an inspiration behind. I would like to point out, especially to the people who’d never been to either of the cities, that Moscow and St. Petersburg partly resemble each other (dear people of St. Petersburg - I know, sacrilegious of me to compare you with greedy Muscovites, no I’m not sorry).

Moscow is not only the Seven Sisters and modern skyscrapers. Petersburg is not only 200-300 y.o. buildings. Both cities underwent major changes during 19th and 20th centuries, both cities eventually adopted a somewhat similar style, a mix of late empire (1910s) and early soviet rule (1920s-1930s). Moreover, in many cases, these are even the same buildings, with a ground level from say 1913 and other floors from e.g. 1927. I’ll do you one better, if you compare historical districts of major cities of former Russian empire (e.g. Kyiv or Minsk), you’ll see the same thing. Yes, they’re not identical, but you can clearly see this specific architectural style of 1910-1920s.

Coming back to our screenshot above, I definitely can see Nevsky Prospect influence. However, when I saw those little decorative towers, they immediately reminded me of Tverskaya. I did some digging, and hey, there is actually something similar there:

Yes, not identical, but again, imo design of the Capital is done with goal to remind you of something you saw, not a copy, but close enough to understand the influence, to get the atmosphere of the city.

2) Historical aspect

Okay, from now on it’s my deluded gibberish, but hear me out. Considering the technologies presented in Pathologic (antibiotics, that massive ass artillery gun from P1 which honestly suspiciously looks like Schwerer Gustav), the game can be placed somewhere vaguely in 1920s-1930s. Taking into account what kind of language characters speak (for instance, Dankovsky speaks in a very specific manner, such Russian is more found in literature, than in actual spoken language. The same applies for most of the Utopians), lack of soviet-specific abbreviations and vocabulary, we can say that apparently October Revolution never happened. To be honest, Daniil wouldn’t survive the Revolution or early Soviet rule (read about repressions against intellectuals or the infamous Philosopher’s steamer)

You can argue: “but hey, isn’t Pathologic just a theatre play where such details don’t matter?”. Yes and no. Because it’s a theatre play, many otherwise important details are omitted. However, developers drop hints here and there, to set the tone and visually convey what kind of country and society they’re talking about. No offence to non-russian-speaking fans, but I’m still convinced that IPL still considers russian-speaking countries their primary audience. This leads to certain design choices, including architecture of the Capital.

In my opinion, IPL had to mix visuals of Moscow and St. Petersburg in order to convey a certain vibe. You see, since it’s somewhat suggested that revolution didn’t happen, developers have to utilise aesthetics of 1910s culture to show that we are talking about “Russia” from works of Gorky, Chekhov, and Bunin. At the same time, IPL have to add elements of early soviet culture, so the game world doesn’t look like weird 1910s with antibiotics and far too much advanced technologies.

How’s that connected to the Capital? Russian capital in late empire was St. Petersburg. In later years - Moscow. Moreover, if we are talking about Dankovsky as a character, his design (among other things) is heavily influenced by works of Bulgakov. But in Russian mindset Bulgakov is tightly associated with 1920s Moscow, you just can’t escape it. So, consequently, IPL decide not to sacrifice one for another, and just mix the two capitals, stylistically, in order to create the desired impression on the player.

We’ll see if all that is at least partially true from P3. Hopefully, even from the upcoming demo.

[coeval-magazine]

Kedr Livanskiy

The opening of Kedr Livanskiy’s Your Needtwinkles into audibility—a breathless mist, an upbeat shift. Quickly, it’s back down to earth, leveled by warm, warbling vocals. But for a minute, it’s pure pop, effervescent teenage girlhood cut, deliciously, with a little winking excess. Yana Kedrina—the artist behind the nom de plume—is radiant, unfathomably long platinum hair echoing the yellow stripe down the side of Your Need’s album cover. This second album, the Bandcamp copy tells us, is “a celebration of life and rebirth”—a high-energy jaunt, clubby and cavorting with peaks like “Bounce 2” and the focused, grainy build of the penultimate “City Track.” 

We’re eating hummus in the back of a Persian grocery store in London when Lawrence tells me he has a surprise. It’s embargoed but Really Exciting; he needs my passport and won’t tell me why until I guess the spot. He holds up a photo of the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre, and my dumb American sensibility is like, uhh, I don’t know, it’s some grungy former Eastern Bloc destination that, five years down the line, guys in Carhartts will describe as the Bushwick of the East? Maybe, in a manner of speaking. The depth of my Russian cultural knowledge is really nil, pathetic, so he humanely cuts me off to answer. Moscow. We’re going to Moscow.

Aside from some half-retained undergrad lectures about early Soviet film montage, Kedr Livanskiy is the beginning and end of my insight into the Russian avant-garde. I stream her debut EP, January Sun, on repeat while I wait for my visa to get approved, wandering around Berlin and relaxing into the titular track’s metered, melancholy flow. I’m kind of down about a bunch of impending change so January Sunand Audrey Wollen’s Sad Girl Theory are propping me up while I twitch around the cramped apartment block where I’m staying for a filmmaking residency, in which I learn that I actually really, really don’t want to be a filmmaker. The early EP, released in 2016, has a lo-fi grit about it that perfectly suits Berlin’s much-maligned maxim, “Poor but Sexy,” with its reverberant hum. 

Landing in Moscow, I’m allayed, for a second. Compared to Berlin, everything’s immaculate—pastel confections of buildings sit low on the horizon; a glass of complimentary champagne is stuffed in my hand when I check into Hotel Richter. My room! It has a fucking fresco on the ceiling! But within a day, the smoothness sours into homesick disorientation. In line for the bar one night, I watch a lethargic progression of gallery totes, screen-printed with Cyrillic sans-serif. Vacillating into and out of elation,Your Needturns out to be perfectly suited to my first trip to Russia. Grounded by slower moments like “LED” and “Why Love,” the albumflutters into occasional severity, recalling the coarse, foggy rhythms that magnetized me to January Sun.

Of course, it matters that I don’t speak any Russian. In my total alienation from lyrical meaning, Livanskiy’s songs come to me as pure structure—texture and affect and the granular nuances of each tiny build and fall, fully divorced from signification. I feel kind of icky and preposterous as I fumble towards interpretation, so it’ll suffice to offer a personal read, here. If January Sun scored a month of depressey self-searching, Your Need, released at the beginning of May, came right as the clouds began to clear, all while retaining a sense of the meticulous depth that made Kedrina’s early work so haunting. 

Lawrence shows his movie one night at a cinema club that was founded by Sergei Eisenstein. Lights up after and it’s really well-received by a crowd comprised entirely of plausible Gosha models. An angelic blonde with pigtail braids is the first to find him in the front row, before most have risen from their seats. “It was so great! I loved it!” He thanks her warmly. She rushes out. I elbow him, giggling. “That,” I hazard through a dumb starstruck grin, “was Kedr Livanskiy.”

Later I fall into some party at Strelka, the architecture-school-cum-cultural-hub that’s hosting a NTS showcase sponsored by the British Embassy. Beatrice Dillon—another favorite from the Cult of Domesticity playlist, dedicated to Women in House, where Kedr takes up residence in my Spotify library—takes the stage. Dancing mechanically, I catch a glimpse of platinum in my peripheral. I ask my newish buddy, probably an appropriate source of journalistic guidance because he has a monthly Vice column, whether it would be bullshitty to approach her. It’s loud so I don’t really know how he answers. 

I try to put it out of my mind. I keep grooving. Eventually, my dedication to hardcore reporting outweighs my sense of personal self-preservation, so I shuffle towards her and yell over the music.

—“Hey, I love your new album!” 

Graciously, she smiles. Magnetic.

 —“I’m writing a review for this online fashion magazine—want to talk to me about Your Need?” 

—“What?” 

 Yelling now, I’m so hyper-conscious of my shrill American valley-girl affectation, I want to unzip my skin and leave my body on the dancefloor. Mortified, I still persist, pressing on in service of Journalism. 

 —“I’m writing about Your Need! Is there anything you want my readers to know?” 

She’s stilted, no recognition. 

—“Uhh….. maybe later.” 

 Is that a scoop? Whatever. I still give this album five stars.

courtesy KEDR LIVANSKIY

@kedr_livanskiy

words ADINA GLICKSTEIN

@addieglickstein

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