We head over to Russia for this synthpop single suggested by Cathy…

[Video][Website]
[7.11]

Madeleine Lee: With its recursive lyrics, incremental addition of layers, and slow build-up to anything like a breakdown, “Kata” is a song that rewards patience, of which I have very little. (The intro is a minute and 10 seconds long! 10 seconds over a minute!) But Kate Shilonosova’s gently yelped and then synthesized hook is the part that gets stuck in my head, so “Kata” also does me a favour by putting it on repeat while I’m waiting for the song to go somewhere, like the world’s most interesting on-hold music.
[6]

Ramzi Awn: “Kata” reveals an obvious knack for melody, and the jazz-pop backdrop recalls a different time. A deceptively simple track, and refreshingly light on its feet. 
[8]

Claire Biddles: Nothing stays still in “Kata” — each time a familiar phrase returns it’s been paired up with a different sound, or sent to ring out in the background, or sung after being introduced on synth. I’m worried the giddy experimentation could get tiresome, but it’s grounded by the strength of the AOR drums and piano that are so anachronistic in the context of contemporary pop that they end up sounding oddly fresh. NV packs enough tricks and structural quirks to sustain this over the six minute run time, and I want to return again and again in the hope of uncovering more. 
[8]

Cathy Yang: One of the only words I think I catch Kate Shilonosova saying is  “whatever,” and the song echoes that insouciance: the little electronic  bells and whistles like the sounds of a computer lip-popping, a drum  machine caught wandering off rhythm about a minute into the track, and  the melody cooling down and building back up like the wax of a lava lamp  rising and falling in predictable but playful patterns. “Kata” sounds  like every Yellow Magic Orchestra tribute-slash-rip-off you’ve heard  before, but also like nothing else I can put my finger on in 2016, and  even though it outstays its welcome, it’s just so gosh-darn fun.
[7]

Iain Mew: What if Yellow Magic Orchestra did music for ’80s educational TV interstitials? It may well have been as zoned-out blissful as this.
[7]

Brad Shoup: It sounds like a collaboration between Carole King and YMO. Playful and deceptively straightforward, with fantastic timbres and a complete disinterest in lifts or drops. NV just cruises along. 
[8]

Thomas Inskeep: Gorgeous popcraft which reminds me of Todd Rundgren in the early ’80s, discovering synthesizers but still using them to sound more like his ’70s work. 
[8]

Juana Giaimo: NV mantains a balance throughout the almost six minutes of “Kata.” It’s a balance that involves a light-hearted spirit, innocent vocals and a circular feeling, given that the song repeats its sections that consist in the repetition of one or two lines. Maybe if the lyrics were more substantial, this circular feeling would make some sense to me, but by the end of the song, “Kata” resembles an exercise rather than anything else. 
[5]

Katherine St Asaph: Between the bits that sound like Todd Terje, the bits that sound like Stereolab, and the bits that sound like EarthBound, “Kata” has plenty of fun. Substance? Maybe not, but why quibble?
[7]