M.Justa: Before the February 24th when Russia cruelly started a full scale war in Ukraine me and my Bass:is events crew was ready to announce our new party. But now instead of music we hear sirens. That’s how we deal here now.

As a music producer I remember the moment when it all started. I was 14 and was enjoying the holidays with my family. On one evening I was looking forward to the arrival of my brother because I knew he would bring the new games for PS1. The title on one of the games immediately attracted my attention – it was Music 2000. I was so excited that I didn’t sleep for the whole night and closer to the morning managed to create from the prepared loops the first track in my life. Then we recorded it from the TV to a tape cassette. I so to say went the whole way from creating the track to its release within 24 hours. 😊 Words are not enough to describe my delight when we were playing this tune on the car speakers while driving around the city.

Since then, I have fallen in love with the process of making music, which I am passionate about to this day. You could check my beats on NOISIA’s imprints INVISIBLE and DIVISION and on creative platforms such as Pseudoscience Recordings, VANDAL Records, Plasma Lab and more.

Olia: I am a photographer from Lviv, Ukraine. Since I was a child I liked to look around and notice small things. I guess that taught me to observe the world carefully and see the beauty. Which perfectly matches with the photography. If I had to choose 1 word that would characterise my style, it is gonna be “real”. I never use Photoshop for my pictures and always try to keep the post production as simple as it can be. There are too many artificially “perfect” things that already exist in the world, so I wouldn’t like to produce more. I want to show reality in my pictures, because I find it way cooler than perfection.

M.Justa: This is a story about overcoming fear. My own fear which is in one way or another in each of us. About the fear of meeting yourself. However, as we all know, this meeting is inevitable and the sooner it happens, as it turns out, the better. A life lived out of fear rather than love can offer really challenging times. However, putting aside for a moment all the worldly fuss, you can see that there is nothing more to be afraid of, it was just an illusion that you invented by yourself and you can finally live, love and create freely. The path to this is sometimes dramatic but at the same time very exciting. This is my story that I tried to describe in three tracks of this EP. All the visual concept was created by talented Ukrainian artist and my friend, Olia Dyakun who has made a perfect match to the sound. Enjoy listening!

Is there a message you want to convey to your people in these hard times?

Olia: Now it seems very clear that all we have is just this moment. That life is so fragile! That we should be grateful for each day. Each chance. Love more. Live more. Be more. 

I’m sure Ukraine will win! 💙💛 But let’s not deny the life itself till it’s gonna happen cause all we’ve got is now.

What does photography mean to you?

Olia: Photography for me is an instrument which helps me to look deeper at the world and express my feelings, vision, philosophy.

M.Justa: Special thanks to Lukas from Snap Mastering who has made a final touch to the tunes and to all the supporters! All proceeds from the streamings of this EP will go to Ridni Charity Fund whose mission is to facilitate adoption and combat the problem of orphanhood in Ukraine.