GALYA BISENGALIEVA - Polygon Reflections - LP - Vinyl [AUG 29]

LP - Standard Edition Black Vinyl. 

Kazakh-British composer Galya Bisengalieva revealed ‘Polygon’ for One Little Independent in the dark Autumn of 2023. Now, as Summer turns to Autumn 2025, Bisengalieva presents ‘Polygon Reflections’, a collaborative reimagining of the original with artists The Bug, Hatis Noit, KMRU, Balkhash Dreaming, Lucy Liyou, Aïsha Devi, Hinako Omori and Alva Noto. The release date is the anniversary of the first Soviet nuclear weapon test in Kazakhstan.

Like her 2020 debut album ‘Aralkum’, which explored the shrinking of the Aral Sea, Galya Bisengalieva’s follow-up ‘Polygon’ drew on themes from her native Kazakhstan. This time, she turned to the Semipalatinsk Test Site, known as The Polygon, where the Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests between 1949 and 1989, producing more fallout than Chernobyl. Though labelled ‘uninhabited’ by Soviet authorities, the area was rich in Kazakh culture, home to poets, musicians and the revered writer Abai Quananbaiuly, as well as a diverse natural landscape.

Each track on ‘Polygon’ referenced locations within this haunting region; villages, landmarks and natural features. Now, with ‘Polygon Reflections’, Bisengalieva has turned her work over to a consortium of her closest contemporaries, to ask for their reflections.

The collaborative album reads even closer to a soundtrack with unique scenes, from The Bug’s ferocious mechanical machinations, to Hatis Noit’s incantations, KMRU’s multitextured digital vistas, Lucy Liyou electro-acoustic piano study, Aïsha Devi’s dissociated cyber-electronica, Hinako Omori’s arpeggiated mediations, Balkhash Dreaming’s poetry intertwined with sampling archival recording from the 1930s, performed by Amre Kashaubayev, a musician who lived in the Semipalatinsk region (1888-1934), to Alva Noto’s microsampled click soundworld meeting Galya’s multifaceted compositions.

"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 456 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."

Tracklist: 

1. Alash-Kala (The Bug Reflection) 
2. Saryzhal (Hatis Noit Reflection)
3. Saryzhal (KMRU Reflection) 
4. Polygon (Балхаш снится Reflection)
5. Sary-Uzen (Lucy Liyou Reflection)
6. Balapan (Hinako Omori Reflection) 
7. Chagan (Aïsha Devi Reflection) 
8. Sary-Uzen & Degelen (Alva Noto Reflection)