Sirin MARJANASEMKINA.COM
In which one of the good Russians brings light to the dark.
When Iamthemorning’s Russian-born, UK-based singer Marjana Semkina launched a crowdfunding campaign to manufacture physical copies of her second solo album, she spoke of excitement, terror and existential dread. The nervousness was understandable, having spent years working on a product without knowing if people would pay over the odds to receive it: £50 for a vinyl album is a lot, even if it does come “laced with gold leaf”.
She needn’t have worried. The project trended on Kickstarter, was 90-per-cent funded within 12 hours, and reached her target within 24.
Sirin rewards that faith. It’s a beautiful album. We Are The Ocean opens with a jauntiness that belies its subject matter, Russia’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine. Rather than strike a note of despair, it’s upbeat and spirited, reflecting the way her friends have united to protest the invasion, sometimes at great personal risk (Iamthemorning bandmate Gleb Kolyadin was arrested in Thailand after playing a show with Belarusian band Bi-2, and faced deportation to Russia as a political dissident). Throw in a deliriously slippery, Steve Vai-esque guitar solo from Vlad Avy, and the result is a song that’s very much at odds with the sum of its parts.
So far, so Marjana. The prettiness of her voice has always been a soothing balm applied to painful subject matter (death, arson, pain, suffering, poison, more death, etc.), and Sirin is no different. Take Gone. With mournful cello parts entwining at the off and sorrowf
