A duo formed by Alexander Zaitsev and Ilya Baramiya in the later part of 1997 in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, EU [Elochnye Igrushki] make warm, enigmatic electronic grooves that are already drawing a lot of attention in Britain. Their debut UK release on Bristol's Pause_2, the strictly limited 7" with tracks Wienn/Srez was featured as NME 'dance' Single of the Week, and perhaps more prestigiously in the real world, was picked for radio play by Peel, Mary Anne Hobbs and many regional stations.

They both became interested in contemporary electronic music early in the nineties, entering the world of production through a music-making friend who was absorbing the sounds of Warp, Future Sound Of London, Orbital and Ninja Tune at the time. Their first track Mice On Moon, composed and recorded in just two days, appeared on the now legendary Perforation compilation album on Perforated records, a small independent label located in St Petersburg that maintains the underground spirit of contemporary electronica in Russia. The following year and a half were devoted to the active experimentation in their home studio and occasional live shows in different local clubs. The first full-length album by the group, entitled EU_Soft, was recently released on Russian label Art-tek Records.

For the past three weeks, EU have been in London recording new material with vocalist and musician Addie Brik (who worked on the recent Luke Vibert & BJ Cole LP) for her new album, to be released on Lo Recordings. Jon Tye from Lo, having read about EU's Single of the Week in NME, liked what they were doing and invited them to come to London to record and perform with Addie. As a finale to their time spent working in London, Sasha and Ilya performed with Addie and the Russian Chamber Orchestra of London, supporting Squarepusher at the Spitz, and as a result of the gig, they have had great interest from the likes of Richard Thomas, Jon Tye and Plaid.

Despite having seen 'so many possibilities and opportunities' for their music career in the UK, the duo are keen to remain in St Petersburg. They are both optimistic, seeing more prosperous future for electronic music in Russia round the corner. "Most Russian magazines at the moment are only interested in writing about old English music like Bob Dylan and are not interested in new music," concludes Sasha,"however, there are new, younger magazines cropping up which are more into what we are doing, and good Russian labels like Art-tek Records – who used only to release material in Germany, France, Britain and the rest of Europe – are now really wanting to make it popular in Russia, and they are more keen now that more and more people are responding.

Inspired by the sounds they have been exposed to while in the UK, EU are keen to start working on new material. Soon they leave London, where, in every record shop they could have made hundreds of purchases given the money, and return home to St Petersburg where comparatively there is nothing. This, they tell me was (and still is) one of their main perogatives for wanting to make electronic music themselves – "If you can't buy it, then make it!" they proclaim together, confident in the fact that Russia will very soon (and deservedly so) shine bright in electronica's Western sky.