~

I was very surprised when I saw that Iamthemorning's album got such acclaim on Progarchives. I knew this band right from the time they started to create music, and I listened to them on many live performances for the last two years. In the beginning there was nothing but celestial piano and heavenly voice ? this was "Inside". So, composer Gleb and vocalist Maryana are the core of Iamthemorning, creating beautiful airy sound regardless of other musicians, who were, in the first incarnation of the band, Alina (cello), Ilya (violin) & Filipp (viola). The band went through some changes, it was interesting to see differences in the sound when they performed as quintet, trio or duet. But when it was about recording of the album, Iamthemorning underwent transfiguration into complete modern band, adding electric guitar, bass and drums to their sound. The aforementioned string trio participated in the recording, but after that they left the band. At the presentation of "~" Iamthemorning included what I call "cosmic" section of the band (Gleb & Maryana), string section (varying from 2 to X musicians from one gig to another) and "rock" section ? Eugeny on guitar, Max from Kubikmaggi on bass (this guy is crazy wild master of bass, listen to Kubikmaggi, you will hear that his technical level and creative power are absolutely mindblowing) and Misha on drums (cheerful guy who is responsible for most of the spontaneous jokes in live concerts).

This incarnation of the band is really powerful in composing as like as in performance. All the music is built on fantastically beautiful piano of Gleb Kolyadin (aka Poloniumcubes in his solo work), the cornerstone of Iamthemorning sound. Gleb has a talent to fill all the musical space with his piano, as the air fills all the room given to it ? that's the reason why Iamthemorning sound so brilliant even if they perform as a duo with Maryana, or why I do find Gleb's solo sketches as cool as 'morning's music. Maryana's vocal is strong and crystal-clear (Maryana is total perfectionist in the studio; and she's cute and shy in live performances). I'm glad that the role of string section was reduced ? it appears to be dominant only in episodes. For me as a rock music addict it's a great thing to hear powerful bass-drums-guitar driven sound reigning over 'morning's music! But there is neither real "rock" on the album, nor "prog" (except if you like to call everything that sounds interesting and not-dated "prog"). Iamthemorning play intelligent, elegant chamber music with half-rock instrumentary. That results in great duality of graceful studio music and powerful live playing.