Marjana Semkina - SIRIN (2024)

Marjana Semkina, one half of the duo at the core of the wonderful iamthemorning, returns with her second solo album called Sirin. Anyone familiar with iamthemorning will know that Marjana has something of a fixation on death, and her songs tend towards either the melancholy, or outright darkness, and Sirin is no different. To believe that this sums up her approach would be missing the point; there are moments of contrasting beauty and light, made all the brighter by the adjacent darkness. Sirin is her most accomplished work to date, wider in scope and ambitious, but retaining the core qualities which make her so special. The apparent elfin fragility of her voice belies a steely inner strength which she will have needed to see this project to fruition, and perhaps against the odds, it is a triumph.

What is Sirin? According to Marjana, it is a bird of sorrow in Slavic mythology which sings and mourns for humankind. Elsewhere it is described as a bird, often an owl, with the face of a beautiful woman, and the superb cover artwork is clearly inspired by this myth. It is an appropriate album title, as Marjana obviously mourns for her lost homeland, Russia, from which she is self-exiled. Here in the UK she is free to pursue her music, her art and her career unhindered. For this album, she has enlisted the help of old friends Grigoriy Losenkov (piano, bass, synth, production) and Vlad Avy (guitars, synth, mixing, mastering), and they are completely sympathetic to the writer’s vision, and essential allies. Keli Guöjónsson plays drums where they are required, and the master of the exotic musical instrument, Charlie Cawood, plays all sorts of (mostly) stringed instruments, some familiar, some less so! His contributions to the musical palette bring a welcome diversity of sounds and textures that enhance several tracks, and none more so than on The Storm, which is brimming with intriguing instrumentation. It is also one of the more upbeat tracks, with sparkling keys and guitar, and a lovely melody.

The album starts with a similarly bouncy, and almost (dare I say) happy song. We Are The Ocean has a gorgeous vocal arrangement, and some cracking guitar playing from Vlad Avy, and rips along on a wave of exuberance. Things calm down for Lost But At Peace, a more typical Marjana composition. It’s a sweeping moody ballad, her voice an ethereal beacon in a wash of keys and strings. The string quartet really shine on this song in a lovely arrangement which lifts the song to a new level. They are equally noticeable on Gone, a beautiful song with another lush string arrangement.

But we all know that darker songs are coming, and Anything But Sleep has darkness lurking from the opening notes. Jim Grey adds his vocal talents to this track, his voice a wonderful contrast to Marjana, and it sounds eerie and unsettling. The melody is brilliant, and it’s simply one of the best songs on an album full of great songs. Pygmalion continues the sombre mood and is another song with a melancholy heart, but with powerful musical contrasts throwing light and shade into the scope of the song.

The other song to feature guest vocals, Death And The Maiden, is also a high point. Mick Moss and Marjana sing the basic song in the first half, and this is followed by an instrumental section where the melody swells and repeats in a hypnotic way, quickly gathering power. It shows how Marjana has grown in confidence as a composer, broadening her palette all the while. Swan Song also bears this out, another song with two distinct halves. The basic song is about death (what else?) and is followed by a wonderfully atmospheric closing section as the soul of the departed floats away into the aether.

The final track, This Silence This Dreaming, signs off with another aching melody and delicate ethereal vocal performance. It’s perfectly judged and leaves the listener sighing at the beauty of it all. Marjana Semkina may well have just delivered the album of her career to date, a varied and dramatic collection of songs all linked somehow with a common golden thread of magic. She is a rare talent, and Sirin proves it.