The Bell Iamthemorning

• 1 Freak Show 07:09
• 2 Sleeping Beauty 03:42
• 3 Blue Sea 03:08
• 4 Black and Blue 03:58
• 5 Six Feet 03:56
• 6 Ghost of a Story 03:58
• 7 Song of Psyche 03:20
• 8 Lilies 04:28
• 9 Salute 07:27
• 10 The Bell 05:04
• Total Runtime 46:10

Info for The Bell

The Bell was inspired by 19th century song cycles, a genre established by Schubert, and themes from Victorian England art and culture. It is divided into two parts, but each song is a story in its own right, all of them are fuelled by human cruelty and pain caused by it. Cruelty and different ways that we cope with it and suffer from it is the central theme of the album. This album is multi-layered and is, in many ways, a journey inwards, taking us inside of a mind of a person suffering from abuse or neglect or open hostility of the society or a specific person.

And even though aesthetically the album is based on themes taken from Victorian England’s art and culture, it is mainly a way to look at ourselves and modern society and realise that at its core, humankind isn’t making much progress in terms of emotional maturity.

Vocalist Marjana Semkina explains in more detail “The Bell is divided into two parts but each song is a story in its own right, all of them are fuelled by human cruelty and pain caused by it. Cruelty is the central theme of the album - together with all the different ways we respond to it and cope with it. This album is multi-layered and is, in many ways, a journey inwards, taking us inside of a mind of a person suffering from abuse or neglect or open hostility of the society or a specific person.

“Aesthetically, the album is based on themes taken from Victorian England’s art and culture, but more in a way of turning our attention to the fact that at its core, humankind isn’t making much progress in terms of emotional maturity.”

The Bell was recorded in March 2019 across Russia, the UK and Canada in several studios: Mosfilm in Moscow; Lendoc and Red Wave in St Petersburg; Noatune in London; The Studio at Sunbeams, Penrith; and Union Sound Company in Toronto. With engineering and mastering handled by Vlad Avy.

The beautiful album artwork for The Bell was created by the band’s favoured collaborator Constantine Nagishkin. Marjana explains the imagery “on the cover is a safety coffin bell – it’s a 19th century idea born from people’s obsessive fear of being buried alive, having been provoked by a lot of press attention to supposed cases of premature burials across the country. and the fact that Edgar Allan Poe frightened many readers by vividly describing the premature burial phenomenon in his short stories.

“One of the inventions to escape such a terrifying ordeal was a so called “safety coffin” that existed in many different configurations, including the one that had a bell attached to the gravestone with a thread that was attached to it and went all the way underground into the coffin so that the when the poor soul awoke and on realizing he’s been buried alive, could ring to let the people outside know what has happened.

“Although the idea is a bit morbid I feel there is hope in the artwork too – no matter how low you are or desperate you think your situation is, you can still call for help, but more than that you have to call for help if you need it”

"For anyone who enjoys the band’s past releases, this album is sure to please as well. It’s not as immediate as Belighted or Lighthouse, and requires multiple listens before it starts to click (as I write this sentence, I am currently on my eighth full listen and lyrics and themes are still revealing themselves to me). As much as we see the band receiving critical acclaim lately (winning 2016’s PROG Magazine Album of The Year Award) and including guest musicians such as Riverside‘s Mariusz Duda, The Bell is firmly a statement of iamthemorning doing what they want, to please themselves musically, which may bring great pleasure to longtime fans, and could also possibly confuse newer listeners. Regardless, this is an album that deserves to be treasured, and listened to in the classic lights down, volume up sort of setting. There are amazing sounds contained within that truly deserve to be discovered and enjoyed." (sonicperspectives.com)

Marjana Semkina, vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar (track 3)
Gleb Kolyadin, grand piano, keyboards
Additional musicians:
Vlad Avy, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Zoltan Renaldi, bass, double bass (tracks 1, 2, 6, 9)
Svetlana Shumkova, drums (tracks 1, 5, 9)
Evan Carson, drums, percussion (tracks 2, 6, 9)
Andres Izmaylov, harp (tracks 1, 6, 9)
Grigory Osipov, marimba (2, 9)
Dmitry Tsepilov, saxophone (tracks 1, 2)
Ilya Leontyev, trumpet (track 9)
Mr Konin, bells, accordeon, clapping St.Petersburg Orchestra "1703"

Iamthemorning
Formed in 2010 in St Petersburg Russia, Iamthemorning features pianist Gleb Kolyadin and the charismatic vocals of Marjana Semkina. The band self released their debut album in 2012 before signing to Kscope and releasing Belighted, their first record for the label in September 2014. In 2015 they toured Europe with labels mates, the art-progressive outfit Gazpacho last year.

As with Belighted, the engineering and mixing on Lighthouse is handled by Marcel van Limbeek (Tori Amos) and self produced by Gleb and Marjana. The album also features guest musicians Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson) on drums, Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree) on bass and additional vocals on the album’s title track by Mariusz Duda (Lunatic Soul, Riverside).

This album contains no booklet.