Interview mit Gleb Kolyadin von Iamthemorning

Let’s first of all go back to your musical roots: When and how did you come to realize that you want to make music professionally?
I have been making music since childhood, so for me, it is just a natural process to continue to do it further. I graduated from the conservatory as a classical pianist, but in recent years it has turned out that I spend about the same amount of time writing and performing. Marjana began to compose songs when she was at university, a few years before we met. But serious successes occurred when we met and began to do something together. I think that none of us thought then about what would happen in the end. We just made the first album, then the second, third and so on… In other words, we just continue to do what we like.

I suppose, the music you play in IAMTHEMORNING is sometimes quite hard to play. Would you say that you’re a perfectionist in this matter?
Yes, I think that perfectionism is our main feature. We always strived to take the quality of what we do as seriously as possible, be it a musical arrangement or a video clip. For music, I can’t say that it is difficult to perform. Every time we try to do something new for us as performers so that it is interesting to play. But we also think about how the ordinary listener will perceive this music. Therefore, we always have to find a balance between complexity and accessibility. I think that in this aspect we still have much to strive for.

Your songs are mainly associated with chamber pop, progressive rock and classical music – but not with the genre of metal. Do you nevertheless have some kind of connection to metal?
Well, first of all, Marjana is a huge fan of metal and she has a lot of friends from Ne Obliviscaris, Tesseract, Haken, and many other prog-metal bands. So, probably, there may be some connection in her vocal parts and some aesthetics. Although personally it seems to me that musically we are as far from metal. I think it all depends on the opinion of a particular listener.

Although the release of your debut was only a few years ago, you’ve already achieved quite a lot – you’re signed to a renown label, you have worked with many artists from the prog scene and your latest album „Lighthouse“ even won a Prog Music Award. What do you think are the main reasons for this quick success of your project?
I think the whole thing is a combination of quality music, beautiful visual content and competent communication. Marjana and I have an unspoken division of responsibilities – I deal more with the music part, and she with the communicative part between the label, the manufactories and the listeners. The industry has changed dramatically in recent years, and the importance of communication between the performer and the listener is now very important. Nevertheless, I do not lose hope to live to those times when you can just make music without thinking about other technical things. I would be happy to just create and share music, but this is a rather idealistic view of things. You are right that we achieved certain success rather quickly, but on the other hand, we have been doing this for almost ten years. It may be a fairly short period, but sometimes things seem insanely slow. In other words, I am trying to say that we worked hard and selflessly during these years, refusing many amenities to achieve the desired result. This is probably the whole secret.

Concerning your new album titled „The Bell“ you were inspired by the art and culture of Victorian England and song cycles from the 19th century. In which way do you think do these influences show themselves on the album?
First of all, in the lyrics. There are a lot of references to stories and legends. Marjana is a real specialist in this field, so much so that she can already give excursions to various thematic places in England. This experience and knowledge were reflected in the general theme of the album. As for the musical form, I initially wanted the new album to be not just a collection of songs, but a kind of whole story. Therefore, at some point, I thought it would be great to put all the finished developments into a certain sequence where each track would be independent, but at the same time harmoniously continue the line of the previous one. Given that this time the music was more chamber and dark, I began to have various associations with Schubert’s vocal cycles. And I realized that in fact, in terms of music form, we got something like a song cycle in two parts where some keynotes go from one track to another. If we add to this that each of the songs is somehow dedicated to the theme of human cruelty, then it also unites all the music with additional semantic meaning. In other words, this is the album where the lyrics and music are equal, working in contrast and complementing each other.

Why did you decide to name the album „The Bell“ instead of choosing the title from one of the other songs on the album?
As you may have noticed, two long tracks are framing the album – „Freak Show“ and „Salute“. But the last track („The Bell“) is a certain epilogue, an afterword, which together with this also serves as a kind of source code. This is the main track on the album that decrypts all the previous ones. In this regard, it should be interesting to start listening to the album in the second round, because this time you will otherwise perceive everything that you heard earlier. Also, the name of this track was reflected on the cover, which depicts a tombstone with a bell in which an accidentally buried alive could ring.

The songs tell individual stories, but are all more or less about human cruelty. Would you nevertheless call it a concept album?
I think yes. Perhaps this album does not look as solid from a musical point of view as „Lighthouse“, but it is the lyrics that give it the general mood. It turns out that sometimes stylistically scattered musical numbers gather into a single whole precisely because of the theme of the lyrics. Therefore – yes, we can say that this is a concept album.

The record is also divided into two parts. What is the difference between the two parts?
First of all, we initially imagined that the album would be released on vinyl, so we consciously made an album in two parts. Secondly, it just seemed to me that this is the perfect sequence. After a powerful title track, there is a certain emotional decline, the music becomes more chamber, dark and even at times mystical. Even the „Six Feet“ finale, despite the climax, still wilts and leaves us in silence. Therefore, the second part works in contrast with the first and feels more dynamic so the listener has the opportunity to live the subsequent music more emotionally.

The nine tracks often sound dramatic and melancholic, but occasionally also cheerful. In your opinion, how does this fit in with the rather oppressive lyrical concept?
I always try to make polyphonic music. I mean, in addition to some details in the musical arrangement, it seems very interesting to me when the text and the music go in a kind of counterpoint. This makes it possible to see both lyrics and music differently, to make the final image more saturated and voluminous. In general, it seems to me that very few people manage to combine sad texts with sad music well or vice versa. Often the final result sounds pretty empty and stereotyped. Therefore, I am glad that this time we managed to find such a balance between sad and cheerful mood.
But there is also another important aspect. Sometimes cheerful music is not what it seems. Modern society sometimes makes us be cheerful and meet certain social standards, one of which is to be a positive minded person. From everywhere, streams of information flow on us about how everything around is good and beautiful. But in truth, sometimes there is not much good around. And sometimes a person has to deceive himself following this „positive“ reality, hiding real feelings. So I would imagine that this seemingly funny music is something like a nervous laugh of a person with serious psychological problems.

The description of the lyrical concept also says that it also relates to today’s time and that humanity still has to grow more empathetic. What do you think is the reason for this general lack of compassion?
I think that the problem is that we do not always know how to listen to ourselves. We are largely subject to outside influence and do not always understand that there is a problem within us that needs to be understood, accepted and somehow resolved. It turns out to be much easier to withdraw into oneself or to take out anger and resentment against someone else. A lot of terrible events are due to jealousy or envy. Perhaps even more – because of children’s complexes and stereotypical thinking that remain in some of us throughout life. All this is compounded by some terrifying informational noise, in which we finally cease to be aware of ourselves as a spiritual unit. It seems to me that it is very important that each of us sometimes stop and look deep into ourselves, clearing ourselves of the noise of external and internal.

Let’s also speak about the musical aspects of the songs. From a technical point of view, the track „Lilies“ stands out pretty much. Did you want to challenge yourselves with this piece?
I remember that somehow I accidentally picked up these changing harmonies on the piano, wrote them down and forgot about this idea for almost a year. And then we just sorted through the old drafts and came across this one. It lasted only a minute, so I had to think about how to develop it and finish it. But the more I played it, the more I realized that it was something like classical music, so in the final, I wanted to add a bit of stylization to Schumann. In general, such a stylization somehow happened quite by accident. I don’t think it was any kind of challenge in terms of composition. But when the recording started, it seems that it was the most difficult composition for both me and Marjana.

I have the impression that some of your new songs are a bit more opulent than your previous material, with even more guest contributions. Was that your intention and if so, for what reason?
It so happened that this album is mainly built on piano and guitar. Therefore, we just wanted to keep this chamber feel, without adding anything superfluous. In other words, we did what seemed to us the most appropriate for this music, inviting precisely those musicians who could carefully add their playing without changing the original vibe.

There are a lot of guest musicians contributing to your albums in general. Would you say that it is difficult to coordinate all these collaborations?
Usually, on the contrary, this is a rather fascinating process. Some bands gather in the studio and write together all the material at once, but we have a completely different approach. Most of our albums are studio albums. I often give the analogy that there are a theatre and cinema. The theatre is what is happening here and now. Cinema is a more meticulous process when the director tries to achieve the result he needs because he will not have the opportunity to change anything. I love the theatre, but our work is more like a movie. We have a script, there are characters and various technical means. And we just step by step record track by track, having the opportunity somewhere to correct and finish something right in the process, and always be able to make the final editing. It was this concept that helped us bring together great musicians and do something that we couldn’t do live. Just because it was unlikely that it was possible to gather such different musicians from different countries in one place.

Many of the musicians you have already worked with have a good reputation in the prog scene. Are there any specific artists that you would like to collaborate with in the future – maybe even from a completely different musical background?
I think it all depends on the specific material. I would have to collaborate with someone from jazz or world music because these genres are beginning to interest me more and more. But then again, it is very important to maintain individuality and original idea. We never attracted someone known solely for the sake of marketing, we did it only because we understood that this person would add something that we need now. This is the most important thing – to do with those means that do not harm the music.

Due to the numerous guest contributions, a large selection of different instruments is used in many of your songs. Do you also maybe consider creating an entire album simply as a duo with just vocals and piano?
On this album, we were one step away from this idea. I think that it is likely that this will happen. For example, I love our duet concerts – this gives incredible freedom in performance and imagination here and now. As I mentioned above – before that we made albums reminiscent of a movie, and it would be interesting to make a duet album someday just like an analogy of theatre.

You released a self-titled solo album a while ago. Are there maybe any plans for a solo album by Marjana as well?
As far as I know, Marjana is in full swing preparing a solo release and I bet it will be great!

What are your next plans for IAMTHEMORNING?
In the autumn we have a short tour, part of which will be held together with Riverside, and there are also several concerts next year in Europe. I think that shortly, each of us will for some time engage in their solo activity, to create something beautiful with fresh strength. We also had the idea of re-publishing our debut album, and maybe even re-recording some things. But these are only ideas so far.

Finally I would like to go through a short brainstorming with you. What comes to your mind first while reading the following terms?
Climate crisis: I hope our planet will live up to the moment when humanity finds a way to fly to another to destroy it too.
Vitas: Do you mean that strange guy in a tight silver outfit? It seems like we all have to go to another planet.
Pop music: An incurable virus. We all get sick.
Social media: Information noise from which there’s no escaping.
Tori Amos: Vodka and cranberry juice.
The European Union: A relationship that must go on.

Thanks again for your answers. Are there any last words that you would like to address to the readers?
Thanks, everyone! Take care of yourself, your ears and your mind.
Have a good time and see you soon.

Publiziert am 27. September 2019 von Stephan Rajchl