One thing you may know about me is that I love Coldwave. I actually did a radio set on Psyched! Radio dedicated to the genre a little while ago, and I realized that there are a lot of great modern Coldwave acts from across the world. Coming to you from Almaty, Kazakhstan and from our friends at Maqom Soul Records in Tashkent, Uzbekistan is Tupik Furmanova, serving up their debut album, New Kazakh Wave.

Tupik Furmanova begins their record with “Radio ‘Alma Ata’”, starting out strong with a vintage radio announcement and a spooky, whistly synth. A simple, drumpad percussion acts as the foundation of this track, supported by a bit of a chiptune-like synth about a third of the way in, adding to the retro vibe. The sonic textures on this song ground us in the 70s and 80s roots of the influential genres of their sound, giving us a fantastic introduction to the record.

The following track gives us much more of a vocal performance. “Besy”, or “The Demons” in English, leans into a darker, colder tone that’s reminiscent of Coldwave and Post-Punk, though Tupik Furmanova is more influenced by Polish Coldwave music. You can hear that very prevalently in this song. “Resonant”, “chilling”, “hypnotic”, and “entrancing” are all words I’d use to describe “Besy”; the choppy synth melody and electric guitar play off each other, creating this dark ambience in the song. The vocals are tense and controlled, and with the added reverb, the vocal texture is given a looseness that amplifies the chilling effect.

“Soldaty Fortuny” (“Soldiers of Fortune”) continues with the trend of the spooky-sounding, whistly synth paired with cold sonic tone, and the restrained and reverbed vocals. The instrumentation on this track is much gentler compared to tracks like “Besy” – the guitar and synths are given more of the focus and “Soldaty Fortuny” isn’t nearly as heavy. The opening chord strum is oddly reminiscent of 50s Surf Rock, with that dripping-in-reverb discordance introducing us to the track. I would argue that “Soldaty Fortuny” is the song off this album that would pack the dance floor at your local Coldwave club night, especially since its got a super danceable beat and a good groove.

New Kazakh Wave closes with “Ty Poselilsya V Moih Snah KA3”, or “Menin Armanymda Tirikeldin” as it’s called on the English tracklist. This song feels more like a New Wave and Post-Punk track rather than a Coldwave one. I do know that Tupik Furmanova is heavily influenced by all of the above, so I’m pleased that we did get a showcase of this other side of their musicality as well as their Coldwave one. Upbeat drums and piano replace the darker, restrained percussion and synths, and the vocals are much less restrained and more open than before. Whereas the previous tracks fit in well with the likes of Nürnberg and Etazhi- era Molchat Doma, “Ty Poselilsya V Moih Snah KA3” fits in with artists like New Order and Ekatarina Velika.

New Kazakh Wave is a fantastic listen. Ranging across the dark-and-chilling and the upbeat-and-hopeful, all while maintaining a great groove and sonic texture, New Kazakh Wave has earned a well-deserved spot in my Coldwave and Post-Punk rotations, and it should definitely be in yours, too. Coldwave isn’t just for the French and Eastern European artists to excel in – Tupik Furmanova proves that Kazahstani and Central Asian artists should be in rank, too.

You can follow along with Tupik Furmanova on their website, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, VK, Yandex, Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp.

The vinyl release of New Kazakh Wave is limited to 300 copies, so if you loved this album, be sure to order it soon! You can purchase the vinyl on Bandcamp.