bequiet is Almaz Salikhov, a Russian music producer and artist living in Helsinki, Finland. He was one of over 100 musicians whose work appeared as part of TELEPHONE, the global online art game of whisper down the lane. A sampling of the music of TELEPHONE was featured on Ball of Wax Volume 64. The more than 900 TELEPHONE artists (I will confess that I was one of them) represented 72 countries and 488 cities from across the world. The game, largely played in the first months of the COVID pandemic, and its many creators demonstrated that art in its many forms transcends borders and barriers with an ability to relay content and meaning in even the most trying of times.
With “Где я?” bequiet again exhibits the ability of art, music in this instance, to initiate a dialogue and evoke a specific exploration despite the possible divides of language and distance. Backwards instrumentation opens the song, creating a sense of wonder and mystery. Soft, hazy lyrics roll in, carried on a breath originating from afar. There is uncertainty in the air. The melody begins to find its feet, becoming more steady but not quite secure. A new voice, this one trancelike in a gentle chant, enters the mix with a meditative quality. It is searching. The chant stops. The melody fades. Once again the song opens up. bequiet creates a spacious soundscape with the rise again of those long, airy vocals and the backwards playing. bequiet’s short, beautiful song causes its listener to slow down, to enter a brief state of contemplation. Before looking it up, one can already guess that Где я? will translate to “Where am I?”