In spring 1990, after completing a farewell concert in Tallinn and releasing a covers-based album of Instruktsiya po vyzhivaniyu, Grazhdanskaya Oborona ceased to exist—or so it seemed. Letov declared: “They want to make us pop; I had to either escape or redirect the stream.” In that decisive moment, he formed Egor i Opizdenevshie, a project born of existential fatigue and fierce independence.

Recording began in May–June 1990 in Omsk’s GrOb Studio. Originally intended as a farewell covers compilation, Letov instead found himself writing new songs in a feverish trance. He later described the process:

“After four hours … archaic words emerged—not from childhood, but from a state before birth...”
This culminated in the ten-minute title track Pryg‑Skok and others like “Pro Durachka” and “Otryad ne zametil poteri boitsa”

 

Album Overview

Pryg‑Skok (translating loosely to “jump‑hop” in a childlike rhyme) was recorded May–July 1990 and released on vinyl that omitted the band name—revealed only by a sticker placed on the sleeve. The album was dedicated to Letov’s friend Eugene Lishchenko and the Cameroon football team—symbolic gestures of outsider triumph and personal grief.

Letov performed nearly all instruments—vocals, guitars, drums, bass—with Konstantin “Kuzya UO” Ryabinov contributing minimally, and only one guest vocalist (Yulia Sherstobitova on the title track).

Themes & Atmosphere

Letov framed Pryg‑Skok as a “global excursion into psychedelia”—only, it landed as psychosis. Written during a nearly fatal encephalitic fever (possibly from a tick bite in Ural wilderness excursions that dealt Letov spiritual shocks), the songs emerged from delirium, exhaustion, and a shamanic ritual intent.

The title track opens with swings “flying without riders,” then spirals into imagery of cramps, burning flesh, souls swept into voids, laughter in death, and metaphysical “jumping under the ground—to the clouds…”. The vocals are fractured, chanting, almost incantatory—evoking ritual trance more than performance.

Notable Tracks

• “Pro Durachka” – A four-part vocal chant based on an archaic folk death incantation: “The little corpse walks the woods… looking for someone more dead than itself.”

• “Pryg‑Skok” – A ritual exit into infinity; pulling “roots out” as the soul splits between cemetery depths and sunlit clouds.

• “Otryad ne zametil poteri boytsa” and “Noch” – Minimalistic reflections on death, memory, and mystical loss.

These compositions fuse ritualistic lyrics with primitive structures, often entirely acoustic or vocal-layered. Letov later said these were among the most faithful works he produced.