Zdrastvootie creates ornate musical soundcastles with of guitars, bass, drums, sax and Drew Adam's inimitable vocals. III is the spectacular new album from Portland's kings of angular progressive songcraft. The high point of the LP is the group's masterful take on the folk standard "Golden Ring Around the Susan Girl" which sounds like it was filtered through Sonny Sharrock's "Black Woman." The LP was pressed in an edition of 350 copies to be sold on the band's first tour of the United States and Canada. Silkscreened covers and a fully illustrated comic book insert complete the package.

Zdrastvootie 2 is a perplexing album. It folds the far corners of some of the world’s most out-there progressive rock with deep, deliberate singer-songwriter type vocals and lyrics. It is both a collection of confusing, dark and fragmented meditations and defiantly odd music, yet it is far more accessible and playful than one would expect. The recorded debut of Drew Adam’s vocals is imposing and grand — he sings like a crooner. Zdrastvootie 2 is still marked by the group’s gifts as songwriters and players as the songs are disjointed and the arrangements abrasive. The material is achingly beautiful, and lovely melodies appear throughout the album. This new album will sound, to most, like no other music on Earth. 

A few years ago Santa Cruz avant-rock group Zdrastvootie decided to ditch their vocalist and concentrate on the unique interplay they had begun to achieve with two guitars and drums. Zdrastvootie are currently a very focused entity, with increasingly complex songs à la King Crimson, Hampton Grease Band or Doc at the Radar Station-era Magic Band. While they have recently added a bassist, and guitar-player Drew Adams has begun to sing, Zdrastvootie still orbits this zone and will continue to until you are very aware that they practice all the time.