Hi David, I am writing to you from London, where I moved last year. I am very excited about this new chapter in both my personal and professional life, despite the horrifying circumstances that the world is currently facing.

The sense of impending doom has always lingered with me. Over the past 3 years, my life has been turned upside down more than once, but music has been a constant presence through it all. It's humbling to realise that the world has always been terrifying, and now it feels like we all live in a history book. I reckon that the happenings of the past three years will stick with us for generations to come and manifest in various ways, so we all require some time to digest and comprehend them.

During this time, I have gained a very devoted audience. Considering that my music, since its very first release, has an emotional barrier to entry and explores themes that modern pop music and western culture push into the background, my listeners stay with me until this very moment. I am very grateful to them for their attention. During this time, I aimed to develop my author's language in a single direction, without making any sudden turns towards simplification or conforming to industry standards. I've remained true to my own path throughout, and it has remained unchanged. I like to believe that with each release, I delve deeper into my subconscious and refine my writing style, imagining myself in Proust's shoes as he wrote In Search of Lost Time. It's gratifying to know that there are people who are accompanying me on this journey.
Another crucial moment in my career and my sense of belonging in the industry over these years was when my manager and life partner Alina Golubeva founded the community and label Random Drama. We've been working together for over 10 years now, and I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of this community of exceptional artists who each bring their own perspective to the real world through their music and lyrics, capturing its wonders and absurdities in their own unique ways.

I studied the violin at a music school, and as a teenager, it was hard to stay focused when all I wanted to do was hang out and have fun. My interest in writing music emerged as a rebellion against my music lessons, as odd as it may sound. While playing Massenet on the violin, I longed to play silly punk songs on the guitar. It's amusing how this spirit of rebellion led me to realise I wanted to become a songwriter and artist. This spirit is evident in my music, which blends classical music with pop music ideas.

Most of the songs were written during the pandemic. I’ve never thought that when the world would close and set boundaries I would want to return to the real world even more strongly. I started writing these songs with a full sense of leaving my safe zone and a desire to open up.
I recorded these songs in the studio of Monoleak, my co-owned audio production company where I also work as a composer. I always recorded myself at night between working on other projects. The Monoleak team has also moved to London, and I'm looking forward to eventually setting up a studio here so that I can spend my recording nights there.

Acume is not only an album title, but also my second name today, my desire to be insightful here and now, not to dissolve in the past and not to dream of a future that is not destined to come true, but to accept reality and be here and now, even if it requires transformation. At the moment, this work is my mirror.

Yes, this is a very eerie coincidence. The album was completed and sent for mixing to sound engineer Roman Urazov 2 days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It was mixed in an entirely different reality. At that moment, it felt like the music had stopped and everything became meaningless. The horror of the catastrophe will always remain with me. In hindsight, this music came out today because I could reinterpret it and see it as something akin to a prayer. The thing is, on that day, the old ‘me’ died and Acume was born.

Everything beautiful is short-lived.

The world seems to be caught in a never-ending cycle: just when it appears that humanity is poised to embrace the path of love, compassion, and acceptance, we instead opt for war, destruction, and inequality.

I aimed to create a meta-modernist album. I believe I created a unique, multi-layered expression in each song and worked on each composition as if it were an entire album. I put all my time and patience. While listening to Acume, you'll notice that each track doesn't follow a typical song structure and instead develops like a winding road. R&B blends with industrial, acapella experiments with Disney-style hero songs. In the sound, I aimed to create a strong contrast between the quiet and insinuating vocal performance and the loud, flamboyant production. For me, album’s production is just as essential as any other artistic element.

I am very meticulous in production, but not so much in writing. Songs tend to come to me in fragments, rather than as a complete piece, often at night when it's socially frowned upon to sing and play. On this album, there's one particular trick in the song Brawl where the arrangement drops out entirely during the second verse for a full minute, leaving just a solitary voice. From the standpoint of the conventions of songwriting, it's a pretty rough decision, but it conveys a sense of presence and the feeling of making music right here and right now.

I'm always in composing mode, which can be very exhausting. The best way to unwind is to walk by the water with my partner and enjoy a glass of wine.

Pale pink.

The winter wind in the underground.

I'm preparing the album's second part, an instrumental release, and several performances in London. All while I wish for nothing but peace!