Mobula is a fine companion piece to Gleb Kolyadin’s last album The Outland, from 2022. It’s another instrumental album and there is the familiarity of his busy, rhythmic style of playing but this time he presents his ideas in a set of shorter pieces that switch beguilingly between enchanting fully-formed songs and a series of ambient interludes, with a focus on piano motifs. Compared to The Outland, this time there is a more simplified approach, providing an absorbing and relaxing listening experience where the complexity of the musicianship reveals itself gradually in a most satisfying way. The clearest sign of this is the focus on Evan Carson’s imaginative talents on percussion that creates a lighter, more atmospheric backdrop and contrasts with the dynamism of Gavin Harrison’s drum patterns that featured on the previous album.
Gleb explains how the album was created from a vast collection of ideas that have been archived over the years and overall, it does have a sketchbook feel to it. Whereas The Outland was overtly a prog rock instrumental album, similar in form to say, Steve Rothery’s Ghosts of Pripyat or Rick Wakeman’s The Red Planet, Mobula is a wider exploration of musical influences and styles. The tone is recognisable and consistent but the individual pieces feel more like a compilation of sorts rather than an album truly conceived with the aim of the whole being more than the sum of the parts.
It is impossible to comprehend the traumatic experiences that Gleb Kolyadin has been through in the last few years, and I hope the process of the creation of this album has played its part in restoring some equilibrium to his life. In that context, piecing this album together from fragments of his past maybe just what was required in the present.
Mobula is a genus of ‘sea Rays’ and the album’s theme is designed to capture a spirit of grace and exploration. That certainly resonates with me listening to the album. Glimmer, the first single release from the album, starts with a trademark piano melody before the accompanying bass and percussion join in. If the rhythm of the piano represents the flight of the Ray then the intermittent cymbals are immediately recognisable as waves and a low whistle solo brings a sea-shanty feel to proceedings.
Preceding Glimmer is the album’s opening track Parallax. Zoltan Renaldi’s bass is deep and brooding and is augmented by Ilya Izmaylov’s cello. Keyboards, percussion and guitar add layers of complexity, the song developing into a menagerie of complementary rhythms before closing out with a cello-based coda. These opening tracks contain the cinematic qualities that Gleb brings with his song-writing but their concise nature contrasts with the more expansive long-form pieces on The Outland.
Afterglow has Gleb performing a gentle melodic piece on a 100-year-old Broadwood grand piano that, even to my untrained ears, adds an extra dimension and warmth to the sound. The tune is elaborate and evocative and the additional percussive backing in the second half creates a lush soundscape. The first of the short pieces is Dawnlight featuring Charlie Cawood on a Japanese stringed instrument called Taishogoto, or Nagoya Harp, accompanied mainly by Vlad Avy on guitar. The production on this (and throughout, to be fair) is superb, it’s atmospheric and the sound is crystal clear and ultra-modern. I would have liked this one to have been developed a bit further, but just before the two-minute mark the song comes to a fairly abrupt end.
Track 5 Radiant continues the trend of exploring alternative instrumentation, this time its an Indian flute, the Bansuri, that features in the introduction. Soon the pace of the underlying piano melody picks up and the song becomes an energising, upbeat variant of a folk jig, emphasised by the return of the low whistle. It’s another gorgeous, light, free-flowing piece of music, and extremely satisfying.
The following series of six tracks are short form, all three minutes or less, and I feel that the album does lose some of its momentum at this point. Observer is the second solo piano interlude, and Transient develops its rhythms nicely before an extended fade out that rather cuts down the track before it has a chance to get going. Crystalline is the most overtly ambient track, no more than a series of chords and notes on the piano. Fractured is a much more interesting piece, a haunting violin part hinting at a slightly darker mood, and layer upon layer of percussive rhythms that are worthy of much longer exploration time than they are allowed here. Similarly, the short time we get to enjoy Tempest with its recognisable Mike Oldfield-vibe, just leaves me wanting more, and a bit frustrated that we move on so quickly to the next idea, again. Nebular is another ambient piece with a subdued, repeating piano motif, no more than a sketch, to my ears.
It’s kind of difficult to form an opinion about 6 very different tracks squeezed into 15 minutes running time. There is such a limited amount of time to fully engage with the pieces, and they don’t have the obvious punch that say a Horizons or a We Have Heaven has, to grab our attention. This is a very artful album, and all of these piece’s display Gleb’s wonderful and unique musicality in its various forms, but it’s not quite clear at this point exactly what he is aiming for.
Fortunately, Shimmer manages to hit that sweet spot where the combination of the melodies and rhythms gets its hooks in you and my feet start tapping vigorously again. As the title of the track suggests, there is plenty of nimble-fingered work on the piano and percussion instruments, including the glockenspiel, in the opening section. Later, there are also some fascinating and engaging changes in key and tempo so that the track itself has that cinematic feel. Especially pleasing is the beautifully arranged climax that creates a high point towards the end and then gently eases us back down. Much more rewarding.
The final two tracks are Starfall, another predominantly ambient piece containing some expressive piano runs, and Gaia, a closing solo piano piece that is given just enough time to allow Gleb some freedom to create some exquisite variations on the central motif.
My gateway to Gleb Kolyadin’s solo work was through The Outland and clearly this album is not The Outland 2. It is, however, full of captivating melodies, lush soundscapes and his trademark refined keyboard skills. That is more than enough to satisfy his core fanbase, whether it is enough to bring in a new wave of followers remains to be seen.
TRACK LISTING
01. Parallax (4:18)
02. Glimmer (4:03)
03. Afterglow (3:22)
04. Dawnlight (1:55)
05. Radiant (4:24)
06. Observer (1:41)
07. Transient (3:06)
08. Crystalline (2:29)
09. Fractured (2:40)
10. Tempest (2:34)
11. Nebular (2:38)
12. Shimmer (5:41)
13. Starfall (2:32)
14. Gaia (3:20)
Total Time – 44:43
MUSICIANS
Gleb Kolyadin – Grand Piano, Keyboards
Evan Carson – Percussion
Vlad Avy – Electric Guitar (1,4,7 & 13)
Ford Collier – Low Whistles (2,5,7 & 12), Bansuri (5), Bombarde (12)
Liam McLaughlin – Electric Guitar (10 & 12)
Zoltan Renaldi – Bass (1,2,4,5,7,9 & 12), Upright Bass (12)
Charlie Cawood – Acoustic & Classical Guitars, Glockenspiel, Guzheng, Zither, Electric Kalimba, Taishogoto, Bow Guitar (4 & 9)
PJ Flynn – Bass (3)
Henry Isaac Bristow – Violin (9)
Ilya Izmaylov – Cello (1)
Mr Konin – Electronic Rhythms
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Kscope
Country of Origin: Russia
Date of Release: 28th February 2025
LINKS
Gleb Kolyadin – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
