'Solidaritine' by Gogol Bordello
Because Gogol Bordello frontman Eugene Hütz is Ukrainian-born, and because other members of his band are Russian, they may now experience current-events “relevance,” but the collective’s eighth full-length, SOLIDARITINE, maintains the scrappy punk-rock spirit, wild-eyed intensity, and gleeful musical miscegenation that Hütz has long embodied.
If more of the world is paying attention to Gogol Bordello at the moment, then at least it’ll hear prime material: carrying forward from 2017’s Seekers and Finders and using a few songs conceived during that time, SOLIDARITINE opens with “Shot of Solidaritine,” a multilingual, multi-tempo gypsy-punk statement of intent that gives the other dozen songs a standard to match.
With the sweatiness of honest work and the help of NYC punk producer Walter Schreifels, the other dozen songs generally reach that standard, whether via “Knack for Life” and its hints of the Clash’s circa-Sandinista! rhythms, through the rockabilly-laced step of “I’m Coming Out,” or while dancing to a European son’s vision of classic ska in “Fire on Ice Floe.”
Gogol Bordello reaches out to collaborate toward reaching the standard, too: H.R. of Bad Brains lends playfully historic authority and his band’s “Sailin’ On” to the defiantly catchy “The Era of the End of Eras,” and Ukrainian electro-folk band KAZKA—especially singer Oleksandra Zaritska—adds urgency to the flight of “Take Only What You Can Carry.”
A marvelous remake of Fugazi’s “Blueprint,” sweetened by Sergey Ryabtsev’s typically poetic violin against Hütz’s enthusiastic growl, entwines Gogol Bordello more deeply into the protests and styles that inspired it.
Originals like the alternately frenetic and paternal “My Imaginary Son” and the alternately frenetic and polka-ready “Gut Guidance” simply demonstrate how skillfully the band has lived up to its inspirations. The abrupt ending of the powerful final track, “Huckleberry Generation,” could be Gogol Bordello and Hütz’s way of jolting listeners back into action.
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