iamthemorning / Gleb Kolyadin / Marjana Semkina

St Matthias Church, Stoke Newington, London
Friday, 1st November 2024

Billed as “An Evening With iamthemorning”, the idea of Marjana Semkina and Gleb Kolyadin, and their band playing their songs of death and pain in a church seems like a marriage made in, well maybe not heaven, but certainly somewhere removed from the humdrum of everyday existence.

St Matthias Church, Stoke Newington, is a suitably cavernous and Gothic surround for this evening’s entertainment. Marjana tells us later that she had always wanted to perform in a church, and you can see why! The lights dim, and after an ambient intro tape evokes waves in the dark distance, the heady atmosphere is established, and the band walk on.

Starting with a solo set from Marjana, and backed by the band, they launch into We Are The Ocean, which features a splendid guitar solo from Liam McLaughlin, on possibly the smallest guitar extant. He tells me after the show that the reason for the junior sized instrument is to enable fast switches between it and the acoustic, suspended mid-air on a stand.

The lights play out synchronous patterns on the high vaulted ceiling for the second song Lost But At Peace, as barefooted, Marjana leaves the small rectangle of carpet centre stage, and commands the stage space, and then the first few rows of pews containing the audience, with a gentle elfin grace; albeit, of course, that this is a song about a dead girl.

This is as much a dramatic performance as a singer singing songs. Marjana’s self-effacing humour shines through in the between song chats with the audience. But we shouldn’t forget the rest of the band. Evan Carson’s drum kit is a quite unusual set up, with percussion instruments and an electronic box of tricks, both offering embellishments to the normal sounds produced by a drummer. Aforementioned guitarist Liam is an understated presence, and his acoustic and electric playing is just right for the symphonic keyboards Lulu de la Rosa supplies from the back of the stage, almost hidden by the grand piano, which dominates stage front to the left as we look.

The symphonic sweep of these tunes takes one to another place. Lulu emerges from behind the keyboards to reveal an impressive pair of platform boots, and to play six string bass on Anything But Sleep, which is another swoonsome mist-bound number in the established tradition, with occasional interjections of tribal drumming.

Last song Turn Back Time is as upbeat as the band get and sashays along at a pace. After that Marjana dashes off stage with the band and we have a short interval.

The second part stars Gleb’s enthralling solo performance at the piano, firstly playing a delightfully mesmerising piece that soars into the shrouded rafters, and sweeps down again to the contemplative Earth, before dancing away into another world. Quite delightful. We are then treated to another of his wonderful unnamed compositions, that is, on the setlist I have, you understand. They may well have been extracts from one or all of his three solo albums, of which I am ashamed to admit, I am unfamiliar. Suffice to say, this will be rectified. The audience is enrapt in attention, and you could hear a pin drop…and the machine gun rattle of pro camera shutters!

Gleb Kolyadin should be filling classical concert halls. What more can be said?

After another short break, and the third set is a rare iamthemorning performance in full band mode. Gleb at the concert grand piano sets the Gothic-symphonic prog ship sailing the seas of Marjana’s morte macabre imaginings. I should say at this point that I am not that familiar with these songs, and it is the first time I have heard them live in a full band context. The merch desk sold me some vinyl after the gig! This first song of part three (Scotland) is giving us the shivers! Power chords from the world’s smallest guitar belie its size, as the song navigates choppy seas to arrive triumphant at the harbour.

“The next one is about electric shock therapy” Marjana tells us, and she’s not joking. “Yay!” cheers someone behind us. 🙂

Drawing on Russian classical tradition and incorporating a hint of Slavic folk music makes iamthemorning’s music unique in the world of symphonic prog, as it avoids the usual atavistic tropes of the many British bands in the genre. It’s also probably why I like them. This is powerful and emotive stuff. And after a while it rocks, and some!

“A happy song, in 5/4, or is it 6/4?” asks M. I reckon you could waltz to it…but then it counts in five…oh I dunno…it’s fun, whatever! All too soon, or so it seems, as we’ve been here for well over two hours, we arrive at the last song (KOS), which gets a deserved standing ovation. The encore takes us over the bridge for the journey homeward.

That really was something special! The sheer amount of work from Marjana and band, and from the indispensable Chris Parkins of London Prog Gigs that went into putting on this wonderful gig paid off in spades, and all that time in a church pew although not easy on my creaking bones, was eased by sublime music played tonight, making it virtually painless.

Finally, as I discovered after the gig, Liam tells me that none of the band had setlists, and that every song was cued intuitively! This shows the calibre of musicians Marjana and Gleb have gathered around them. The elusive setlist you see at the end of this review took some hunting down!

[Photos – Rosamund Tomlins]

SETLISTS
Marjana Semkina
We Are The Ocean
Lost But At Peace
Anything But Sleep
Pygmalion
The Storm
This Silence, This Dreaming
Gone
Disillusioned
Turn Back Time

MUSICIANS
Marjana Semkina – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Liam McLaughlin – Guitars
Lulu de la Rosa – Keyboards, Bass
Evan Carson – Drums, Percussion

iamthemorning
Scotland
Too Many Years
To Human Misery
Chalk & Coal
Sleeping Pills
Libretto Horror
Os Lunatum
Sleeping Beauty
Blue Sea
Freak Show
5/4
KOS
~ Encore:
Touching
Ghost Of A Story
The Bell

MUSICIANS
Marjana Semkina – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Gleb Kolyadin – Grand piano
Liam McLaughlin – Guitars
Lulu de la Rosa – Six String Bass
Evan Carson – Drums, Percussion