Oksana Linde - Aquatic and Others Worlds (1983-1989) (2022)

A real one for prog synth heads, Venezuela’s leading lady synthesist Oksana Linde unleashes her archive on record for the first time - RIYL Delia Derbyshire, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Otherworld

With only scant appearances on the cult ’SNX’ comp in 1985 and Mana’s ‘Dream Tech’ set of 2020 to her name, ‘Aquatic and Others Worlds (1983-1989)’ marks the debut release proper by Oksana Linde. The daughter of Ukrainian immigrants to Venezuela, Oksana was born in Caracas, 1948 and began making electronic music in the early ‘80s, when she quit her job to pursue music and art. Using a Polymoog synth, and later a TEAC open reel tape recorder and a Moog Source, she painted vivid widescreen synth scenes at her home studio which would remain unpublished and practically unheard during that era.

With benefit of hindsight, it’s quite possible to identify Oksana as Latin America’s answer to Delia Derbyshire, Suzanne Ciani or Laurie Spiegel, such is the classic charm of her music. From the swirling fantasia of ‘Intromersión’ thru the heroic fanfare pomp of ‘Descubrimiento’ thru the romantic promise of ‘Ensueño’ her music is sci-fi in scope and richly pulpy with it, swerving anything academic in favour of immersive, instrumentally narrative-driven works that sketch grand landscapes on the back of eyelids and lend a cinematic quality to headphone mooches.