Album Review: Marjana Semkina - Sirin
Reviewed by Chris Taylor
It’s not every day I take the plunge to write about something that is outside my world of heavy metal. However it’s often fun, or at the very least interesting, to explore beyond your comfort zone as you never know what new sounds you might find or maybe even enjoy.
Okay so Marjana Semkina isn’t completely out of left field, I saw the genre descriptor of ‘dark folk’ and that was enough for me to check it out without hesitation.
Marjana Semkina is a Russian musician based in the UK who has released albums with various projects, most notably Iamthemorning and Maer, and is now bringing her second full length solo album Sirin. Marjana’s music uses traditional instruments to accompany very soft, layered vocals to achieve a very serene and mystical style of music.
Heavy Metal has managed to creep its way into this corner of folk music in recent years, with artists like Mykur and more recently Suldusk providing some of the most evocative albums Black Metal has to offer. Marjana Semkina’s new album Sirin however gives me the opportunity to explore this sound of Dark Folk but without the Black Metal. It’s pure form so to speak.
The opening track, We are the Ocean, doesn’t waste time with any sort of ambience to set the scene. It kicks off straight into Marjana’s beautiful melodies, layered guitar and piano to transport the listener instantly into this world. But the track also demonstrates the progressive side of this album, and how most of these tracks rarely end the way they began. Halfway through We are the Ocean we get treated to a full on guitar solo which by all accounts should have clashed hard with what came before, but its loose feel and shifting speed completely work with the rest of the track.
Similarly Lost but At Peace’s more serene approach grows in scope to become one of the most moving pieces of music I’ve heard so far this year, and the climatic ending to the initially more eerie Pygmalion genuinely caught me off guard.
The obvious stand out here is the incredible vocal work. You could lose yourself in Marjana’s timbre for hours with her incredibly soothing tone, and excellent use of vocal layering to give the tracks massive scope despite how sombre they often are. The vocal prowess doesn’t stop there though, thanks to two exceptional guest vocal appearances; Anything but Sleep features the equally ethereal voice of Jim Grey from Caligula’s Horse, and Death and the Maiden has Mick Moss from Antimatter who clearly has a knack for vocal accompaniment, having also joined Cammie Beverly on an Oceans of Slumber album to equally amazing effect.
That’s not to take away from the other half of the package, the stunning instrumentation. There are many different instruments used on this album, some of which I’d never heard of (what on earth is a guzheng?). However at no point is it sonically overwhelming. Every additional instrument is purposeful and justified. The moments where the vocals hang back and let the instruments carry the music, are some of the album’s highlights such as the second half of Swan Song.
Marjana’s previous works are known for their prevailing sense of darkness within each song. Sirin is no different with the ongoing war in Ukraine directly inspiring much of the music for the album. While no song references the conflict directly, there is indeed a looming feeling of grief and sadness present throughout. This mostly comes from the lyrics; such as “I lie every night awake, shadows will embrace me like dreadful dreams” on Anything but Sleep, but is also reflected in a song’s entire tone like on Pygmalion with its more stripped back and eerie sound.
However, that often feels like only one part of the album, as many of the tracks also have a hopeful side to them as well. When the lyrics get dark, oftentimes a more hopeful line will immediately follow such as “Shadows growing but I’m not afraid, because I’m made of light and I’m taking a step” from Angel Street, or the entirety of The Storm with its more uplifting tone. Rather than simply being bleak all the way through, Sirin shows hope and grief pulling at each other constantly.
I’m very happy to report that this plunge in the dark was well worth the time. Marjana Semkina’s new album captivated me more than some Metal releases have so far this year. Sirin is an album that is best enjoyed in full, preferably in isolation and with a good sound system allowing you to get lost in the ethereal compositions it has to offer. Every track here is gorgeously put together with layers upon layers of instruments creating the perfect sonic backdrop for Marjana’s incredible voice.
