Since 2010 the chanteuse Marjana Semkina and the piano virtuoso Gleb Kolyadin have been realizing their vision of chamber pop under the name IAMTHEMORNING. Classical sprinkles and artistic exaltedness of the Russian duo are sometimes reminiscent of a Tori Amos or Kate Bush, but also modern prog and alternative rock of the brand Riverside or Oceansize shimmer through. With "The Bell", the two of them present an almost painfully intense concept album in which they play off all their strengths in a thematically exciting context.
eclipsed: The album title "The Bell" refers to the fact that in the Victorian age coffins were constructed with alarm bells due to the fear of being buried alive. What's this all about?
Marjana Semkina: I am fascinated by the subject of human cruelty and how it is dealt with - naturally in relation to modern society. The coffin bell from the 19th century symbolizes basically only how to get help in a hopeless situation. Even if at that time de facto almost nobody was actually rescued. (Laughs.)
eclipsed: As a native Russian, why are you so concerned with a cultural phenomenon from 19th century English society?
Semkina: I studied Victorian art intensively, travelled around England, read books at that time. That influenced the album a lot. Despite its morbidity, I find this epoch artistically very beautiful. It all developed organically when we thought about a concept for our new album.
eclipsed: What exactly does the coffin bell symbol stand for?
Semkina: In principle, it's all about mental health and how to deal with it openly. Of course, the album also deals with my own feelings to a large extent. I packed it into historical stories because I didn't want it to be too autobiographical. But even today there are people who live from foreign fates and tragedies. In our modern society, the suffering of other people lies on the virtual presentation plate - be it in social media or TV shows.
