Gleb Kolyadin is a highly esteemed Russian musician with classical training, known for being one half of the duo Iamthemorning, alongside Mariana Semkina. His performances seamlessly traverse the realms of classical music set against a cinematic backdrop, blending in elements of progressive rock and jazz fusion while also drawing on folk and ethnic influences. This diverse approach to music clearly indicates that his artistic journey is marked by a spirit of adventure.
His previous release, The Outland, was a six-piece symphonic suite .. as he put it, “a way of creating new worlds in my head”. Whereas his new release, Mobula is an album consisting of fourteen quite short pieces, some of which are very short indeed, and the album runs to not much longer than forty minutes. The Outland saw Kolyadin utilising the talents of no fewer than twenty-four other musicians, including top prog players like Gavin Harrison (drums) and Tony Levin (Bass) whereas Mobula is largely all his own work, with contributions from only three others.
All the pieces of music on this album are played simply, with no flash, no desire to be an extrovert or any flurries of virtuoso playing for its own sake. There’s just music played extremely well by a virtuoso performer whose talent on the keyboard places him right up there with Wakeman and Emerson.
It’s difficult to select individual tracks because all fourteen pieces are fairly short but, even so, each one enables Kolyadin to take the listener on an inward journey as the music unfolds and wraps itself around the senses. However, pieces like ‘Parallax’ and ‘Shimmer’ have a very Mike Oldfield ‘vibe’ to them. Whereas ‘Tempest’ is redolent of a piece the Tangerine Dream performed back in the day. ‘Gaia’ though is quite simply a gorgeous piece of music, with just Kolyadin featured and it’s beautifully played and highly emotive. As is ‘Glimmer’ and the more dramatic piece ‘Fractured’.
This is music which lights up the imagination as you listen to it, with the overall outcome being an album which is a very rewarding listening experience.
