Gleb Kolyadin

Piano Smithfield, London

28 February 2025

Piano Smithfield is the kind of place I thought only existed in movies: a tiny basement bar with a grand piano at one end and cocktails served at your table. It feels very small and intimate, and it's packed to overflowing by tonight's crowd. Not only is every seat occupied, all the space at the back is filled by standing people. If Gleb Kolyadin had any doubts that an evening of solo piano music would struggle to find an audience, I think they have been put to rest tonight.

He starts by telling us that, although this is billed as the Mobula album launch gig, he's not going to play any of it! What followed was Gleb alone at the piano for 45 minutes of pure improvisation. He keeps up a continuous stream of music, never once faltering or hesitating, never repeating himself, the music moving smoothly from one mood to another with never a jarring transition of harmony, tempo, or dynamic, but just ... flowing. It's astonishing. It's beautful, emotional, completely engrossing, and almost beyond belief that it's humanly possible to have such mastery of your craft. Musicians who operate at this level, their brains are just different from the rest of us, I'm sure. For 45 minutes he holds an audience of (mostly) aging rock fans in complete silent attention with a single piano, utterly engrossed in what he's doing.

After a short interval, he's back and joined by Evan Carson (bodhran) and Charlie Cawood (guitar) for a couple more pieces that feel somewhere between rehearsed and improvised music, and their sounds mesh with his perfectly.

Finally, Marjana Semkina joins the band for four Iamthemorning songs. Gleb seems relieved to be able to turn the task of chatting with the audience over to her, and of course she falls into the role naturally and easily. While she makes sure that we know Gleb is still the focus of the evening, it's suddenly absolutely and completely an Iamthemorning show.

Every time I see Iamthemorning, the configuration is slightly different, and though I've seen them with both Evan and Charlie before, this might be the first time I've seen them play as this specific quartet, and it's certainly many years since I last saw them as a fully acoustic band, and I've missed it. The sound is beautiful, the songs sound reinvented with acoustic guitar and bodhran, and it's just a privilge to hear four such accomplished virtuosos playing together. Marjana had lost her voice earlier in the week, and 24 hours ago even her speaking voice sounded rough, but tonight she rises above it and sounds amazing. Maybe she's singing with less power than usual, but she's skilled enough with her instrument to work around it and deliver a beautiful performance.

Fittingly, Gleb plays two encores solo, and we would have asked for more if there were not a strict curfew. But even with the curfew, I think we've had two hours of music, and performances beyond anything we could have imagined. The whole evening has been perfect, the best concert I've ever seen, and if Gleb ever tries anything like it again I'll be here again. Things like this are just magical.