Between them they share a border with more than a third of Europe’s 44 countries. Yet, somewhat surprisingly, they don’t actually border each other. It’s less of a surprise then, that Ukraine and Germany aren’t particularly well known for their joint collaborations - until now that is. Based in Berlin and Kyiv, Florian Zimmer, Mika Shkurat and Lucy Zoria have drawn on their previous lives in the punk and Berliner electronic music scenes to form a new cross-border project together as
Tvii Son.

Translated to “Your Dream” in Ukrainian, Tvsii Son released their self-titled debut album on the London-based MIC records back in September of 2020. There are punchy pop synths on tracks like Am I, and abstract percussion coalescing into rugged rhythms on Iryna. Tvii Son, though, may be best described as an upbeat and industrial sounding album. It does stray away from its native countries’ stereotypical sounds as the album builds up to a crescendo of strong and low, dubby baselines on Kilang and Heart Ending. Nevertheless, just as Lucy Zoria so beautifully states in the album’s second track; “clinging to what we love as it slips out of vogue”, the East Berlin-cum-Eastern European identity can be heard right through the heart of this creative masterpiece.

With the lack of opportunities for DJ’s to play new and unreleased tracks on weekly nights out last year, we’ve personally found it a bit trickier than usual to come across brand new music. However, don’t feel as though you should skip over last year’s material and head straight to the hot off the press releases as chances are you’ll find something worthwhile that’s slipped through the cracks and crevices of 2020. Tvii Son was the first to slip through mine, but boy knows it won’t be the last.