Ilya Semashkevich

Genres: ambient, dark ambient, soundtrack

Cover: my painting

The album is based on my old orchestral recordings, which for six years I could not find a way to complete. Therefore, I consider this album to be orchestral music, which was used as samples and processed into specific ambient canvases. The parts were slowed down, sped up, transferred to synthesizers or transferred to effects. All this created an elongated, nervous, deep and dirty sound that perfectly expresses the musical content.

The album conveys the time period of the first years of migration. This is a track of the most vivid experiences, leading through strong closeness and soul-searching to calm. It’s a very lonely album, so its cover was my picture, drawn shortly before the idea of finalizing this music came.

I spent the entire process of working on the album in my friend’s tea shop under the bridge. An important moment for me was that literally a couple of weeks after writing this music, my friend ended up in a psychiatric hospital. This affected me greatly. I realized that through music I convey and understand reality much more accurately than with consciousness. What is also surprising is that the album title was invented six years ago, but at the same time it coincides with the name of my friend. And the picture, spontaneously drawn during Christmas, in which I was simply looking for movements of color, is very similar to the portrait of this very friend.

These events and coincidences gave the second major context to this music; it became a description of the process of losing one’s own consciousness and reality, the destruction of oneself and the surrounding reality. Which is what I actually wrote six years ago, but to myself.

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | or any of the streaming platforms

Genres: brake beat, idm, electronic, dark electro, electro

Cover: Glafira Stseliukova (GLF) painting

The astrological phenomenon of Mercury in retrograde at a certain period became the best explanation of the collapse in my life and was jokingly elevated to an absolute. This is music from the time period of my transition to new genres and at the same time it was written during the most difficult time of the year – winter. Year after year, the winter holidays become an extremely difficult experience for me due to the inability to spend them with my family. Therefore, the entire album is dedicated to thoughts about the loss of home and dreams of returning to it, accompanied by breakdown both inside and outside.

The musical content of the album is very multifaceted, from breakbeat and garage to soft electronic and guitar music. The entire musical movement is united by elongated bass lines, brooding pads, near-electro break beat percussion and screaming leading parts. Many works were written during or after parties. This is something like a response to the musical reality surrounding me at that time, which I did not yet understand, but was already absorbing.

I’m glad I was able to capture this time. And Glafira’s painting became an ideal reflection of the musical nature of this album.

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | or any of the streaming platforms

Genres: ambient, electronic, downtempo

Cover: my artwork

I see, therefore I exist, but what I see takes away from me the desire to exist.

The album continues “Time” in a theatrical manner, divided into two acts, the main musical difference of which is the addition of rhythms in the second act. The album was written based on an unrecorded performance of mine in a teahouse under the bridge. It uses keyboards, spatial and cosmic synthesizers, guitars and experimental forms of percussion.

In this music, I go through the information field surrounding me and try not to lose myself in it, constantly fighting against the fall, since it would be very simple. Therefore, along with airiness and rise, there is also a fall. The decision to hold on and stand on your feet shows the second act; it is these rhythms that represent the ground under your feet, although everything else is also ambiguous and unclear. This album is also personal, although it comes from a place of social reflection.

The cover was created by me based on the principle of one color and movement while listening to one work, so it has eight colors. But later I tore the drawing into pixels, this is what gave me the correct presentation of these forms.

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | or any of the streaming platforms

Genres: downtempo, electronic, idm, ambient, slow electro

Cover: Volodymyr Gnatenko

Two sides of the same coin.

All works are divided into pairs. This is a logical continuation of the previous album, which moves from a general feeling into more specific examples: friendship, internal state, society, news, need.

The album was written in minimalism and according to the principle “as it is heard, so it is written,” that is, each arrangement develops in the same sequence as I heard and came up with it. The music is filled with dubstep bass, upright pads and synths in harmonic minor, supported by classic drum machines without additional sounds. Very clean and well maintained work.

The cover was created by my close friend Volodymyr Gnatenko while listening to this music. I think this drawing is a beautiful representation of duality.

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | or any of the streaming platforms

Genres: idm, electronic, ambient, downtempo

Cover: Glafira Stseliukova (GLF)

Collection of reflections. For each of the presented works, various arrangement and compositional techniques were used. There is immersive dark ambient and minimalistic deep smooth kick drum, soft trance and outsider techno.

This album summarizes the musical path traveled in the previous five major releases. Each work has its own unique character and mood. The very important thing is that the basics of these works were written many years before, and, as in the case of “Time”, for many years I could not find their final form. Therefore, the album “Nori” became the starting point for studying the most valuable unfinished works from my old work and refining them with a new look.

The cover was created by Glafira based on my drawings, which I drew for each track and then tore up.

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | or any of the streaming platforms

Genres: idm, electronic, ambient

Cover: Glafira Stseliukova (GLF)

Like the previous album, the works are based on the music of Roterave. This album is about five elements: water, earth, fire, wind, man. The language of the album Kosa brings it closer to ritual and thereby adds the character of wild, unbridled nature.

The music is filled with arpeggiators with octave leaps in all elements, from the bass to the cymbals. All parts are very sharp and are softened by pads that fill and explain the space. In this album, breaks and idm moves in percussion are more pronounced. All these elements together make the music flowing and yet soft. Also, the arrangements are built on double rhythms or rhythmic layering, which allows you to constantly switch attention and perceive this music differently.

Glafira’s magnificent visual work perfectly conveys the entire musical mood, every time I look at her I admire how much she understood my music, I think even better than me.

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | or any of the streaming platforms

Genres: electronic, idm, ambient, experimental, breakbeat

Cover: Glafira Stseliukova (GLF)

The quintessence of collective music. The album is woven from the most emotionally complex works of mine over the years of creativity. Hence the name, as if during a snowfall those same snowflakes fall into your hands and you try with all your might to preserve them.

One of the works contains six tracks simultaneously. During the writing of this material, it was rewritten and supplemented many times. The works moved through a large number of genres from ambient to experimental music, which ultimately came together in a mixture of all this throughout the album.

To the arrangement techniques from the previous album, many moves have been added that I have developed over the past years, as well as completely new ways of developing composition and working with layers. This is also the last album that I wrote in arrangement mode, after which I started using only the live method. Which represents the final stage of the transition to a new form of music writing.

The emotional component returns to the first album, since all the leading parts were written after repeating the story of falling in love and accepting the impossibility and hope for the development of these feelings. This music represents the transition through a white sheet and the creation of this sheet at the same time. It crystallizes and individualizes like a falling snowflake

The cover created by Glafira takes away the opportunity to say anything, it only makes me feel and helps me understand this music to the fullest.

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | or any of the streaming platforms

Genres: electronic, idm, ambient

Cover: Bo, Volodymyr Gnatenko

I would call this release a mixtape, not a full-fledged album. Since this is rather a collection of works from the period of leaving the house with a computer to the library, to friends, to institutions and just on the street. Hence the names: a spider sat on my computer while recording one of my works, a bookworm, a turtle leisurely while walking. It contains material not included in “illhveli” and “Ukijo”.

But there is one important detail that brings this together into a complete story. At one point, events that were terribly difficult for my consciousness began to happen in my family. And the day when I didn’t know what would happen next became the day when I decided to finish the release from morning to night. It was in these emotions that I collected these tracks. This is an example of how music saved my life, or rather my consciousness during the feeling of complete loss of legs and roots,

Musically, this work is minimalist, but at the same time there is a huge variety of genres of music that are difficult to list, and that’s not the point. The main thing is that these are all recordings from live mode and they all contain a minimal number of instruments and there are no guitars, which is not typical for my music.

The cover was created by my friends Vova and Bogdan, who were with me during this day. Vova painted a picture, and Bogdal developed it into a multifaceted event. This perfectly conveys the character of this collection.

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | or any of the streaming platforms

Genres: drum and bass, electronic, idm

Cover: Glafira Stseliukova (GLF)

The final work of the triptych. An important musical characteristic is harmonic layering. In this album I managed to achieve a simultaneous combination of different harmonic structures in each work, combining them with drum and bass percussion. Melodic sub-bass lives its own life, percussion confidently stays in front, and pads and mid-bass complement each other without interruption, at times making room for leading parts.

The language of the names is my own. It is a synthesis of the names of important works of Japanese folk visual art with the Belarusian language and individual work with a syllable for each work.

This is a summer album, light, filled with sun and dreams. He is kind and romantic. He completes a big stage of self-discovery. It sums up the new way of making music and is its quintessence. This is not quite classic drum and bass, rather intellectual, but for me it is just soft music, filled with pleasant thoughts about today, dreams, hopes.

Glafira’s cover perfectly emphasizes the Japanese samurai theme embedded in the album. This visual work is beautiful!

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | or any of the streaming platforms

Genres: experimental , electronic, idm, ambient

Cover: Glafira Stseliukova (GLF)

This album is a mosaic of linguistic and musical elements, created in collaboration with outstanding guest artists and lyricists, where each song carries an individual message, rich in experiments with sounds, words and emotions. Exploring themes of loneliness, self-discovery, nostalgia and relationships through the numerological metaphor of losing home, the album encompasses genres such as idm, ambient, electronic, trance, techno, experimental and witch house. 

The visual work by Glafira Stseliukova (GLF) reveals the musical content and allows one to see the sounds captured in the compositions.

Listen: Bandcamp

Genres: ambient , electronic

Cover: Glafira Stseliukova (GLF)

«The desert is a place where you can find yourself and lose yourself. Wake up and take action». 

The world is unpredictable. Many of us found ourselves in a situation where we needed to start life from scratch. It’s like a desert. There are so many routes and it’s difficult to know which one is right for us. Which direction will make us truly happy. This story is about a dancer, passion for dancing helped him find the right route and destiny.

Listen: Bandcamp

Genres: ambient , electronic, experimental

Cover by me

The album “Corral for all pens” is a collection of experiments. 

I don’t want to talk about the album, but I want to tell you about each of the works presented in it. 

“Isahel” is one of my first works with jazz musicians, live orchestral instruments and a choir, which I could not bring to mind for a long time and in the end everything grew into an ambient space in which all the sounds combined and created the canvas I needed. 
“Okavango” is a small teaser for the big album, which will be released in the near future. This is a short sequenced sketch, soft and very valuable to me for many reasons. 
“Gedi Leaven” and “Maji Leaven” is a recordings of an old German piano that stood in the squat of Zaczyn. I’m incredibly sad that I’ll never be able to play it again as it had the perfect detuned character I’ve been looking for for years. 
“Samira” is a repeatedly rewritten track from a recording of a fun evening with my close friend. This work from dnb through idm and experimental has come to an ambient form and evokes in me different emotions that are difficult to describe, so I share it. 
“Zamezi” is one of the closest to my heart, for about a year I was looking for the sound in which I want to see it. I would call it a love song. 
“Ndege Krk” is a recording of a piano sketch after a walk around Krakow during a performance, the recording of which is on YouTube and the music from which will be released next week. 
“PPLKMKTTMTTKMKTMRTKKF1DF2DFPSDSP” is part of my thesis, and is a teaser of the most important and fundamental musical thought that has ever occurred to me. You can read the work on my website. 

The cover is my drawing, created during a difficult emotional day at work. I thank Glafira Stseliukova (GLF) for her help in her final presentation! 

Listen: Bandcamp

Genres: ambient, dark ambient, electronic, experimental

Cover by Glafira Stseliukova (GLF)

The Soundtrack Collection pt.2 performance “UKRAiNATV for NYC“ 

A big performance in which I wrote music from scratch and followed what was happening on stage, without knowing who would be there or what they would do. Interesting work from the point of view of the moment in creativity and how to unconsciously and tangibly emphasize thoughts that are not conveyed to you directly, that is, through words. We had a symbiosis and it was recorded. 

Listen: Bandcamp

Genres: electronic, downtempo, ambient.

Cover by me

My first meeting with death at a conscious age. 15 sequences in memory of my loved one, whom I never got to see in his last years. In this music, I chaotically try to forget, remember, live and accept what happened. He will forever remain with me, like these tulips growing right under the house. 

Listen: Bandcamp

Genres: electronic, idm

Cover: Glafira Stseliukova (GLF)

I showed my work to friends and their ears focused on this work. It was written in a library and is a quiet cry – a dance among books.

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud

Genre: idm, trance

Cover: Volodymyr Gnatenko

We lived together for a year and practically did not write music together. Therefore, everything somehow unexpectedly spilled out for us in this work.

Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud

Genres: electronic, idm

Cover: Bo

We talked to the guys and it turned into music.

Listen: Soundcloud

Genres: electro, idm

Cover: Ola Procak

On the occasion of 2 years from harsh Russian invasion into Ukraine, Synergy Cult has prepared a CHARITY UA compilation to raise funds for the volunteer association Kyiv Angels which helps civilians & army with equipment on the Ukrainian territory (FPV drones for the brave defenders in particular)! Cities in ruins, daily rocket attacks, shattered lives is still the reality in Ukraine at the moment. 

Listen: Bandcamp

Genres: electronic, idm

Cover: Márton Tóth

I’m glad to be a part of such an incredible album from my dear friend!

For Animalia’s 11th release, Animalia welcomes Ukrainian producer Volodymyr Gnatenko with his EP AbiaA. 
Known for his progressive, trance-tinged releases and live sets, AabiA builds on Gnatenko’s lush soundscaping with five new tracks, including a remix of fellow Ukrainian producer Shjva’s Usu and an additional digital sixth bonus track with Ilya Semaskevich. Deep, atmospheric and emotional, the EP spans dreamy synth lines meshed with breaks, both rolling and downtempo. I first encountered Volodymyr’s sound at a Warning! party in Berlin last April, where he played a transformative live set that stayed with me long after. AbiaA perfectly reflects what resonated with me then and still – the entrancing and immersive world he conceives is a rare skill in electronic music, but one I endlessly seek. 

Listen: Bandcamp

Genres: electronic, ambient

Cover: Tasha Katsuba

This music is composed of the voices of swans who observe summer celebrations and recount them in the evenings in their nests. The motif of swans on the apron for me became a reflection of nostalgia and the fading warmth of a home that can never be returned to. The composition also draws a parallel with dawn at the train station, where you keep turning around and never see your train, but each passing car still brings joy and solace.

Listen: Soundcloud

Genres: ambient, electronic, song

Director: Victoria Yehorova
Composer: Ilya Semashkevich
Text: Olga Karolenak
Performed by: Olga Karolenak, Andrey Korzan.
Artistic solution: Glafira Stelyukova, Timofey Sheleg, Danila Goncharov.

A children’s production in which I wrote the music and songs. The conversation is about how difficult it can be to come to an agreement without knowing each other’s language. From a musical point of view, the work is extremely interesting, since the songs were written in a bard style and rearranged to electronic music, which created a looking-glass character for this forest and animals.

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Genres: classical music, blues, jazz, song

Director: Vasyl Dranko-Maisyuk
Composer: Ilya Semashkevich
Text: Francishak Alyakhnovich
Performed by: Alena Bayarava, Danila Goncharov, Olga Karolenak, Sergey Pukst, Aliaksandr Unukovich, Margarita Iatskevitch.
Artistic solution: Glafira Stelyukova, Timofey Sheleg, Danila Goncharov.

The performance is in cabaret format. The musical accompaniment is based on classical music, that is, waltzes, polonaises, marches are written, as well as songs, jazz and blues compositions and filled with themes and transitions. Each character has not only its own motive, but also its own musical genre, which emphasizes the characters. The entire production is played on the piano. This comedy is very important for Belarusian literature and it is a pleasure to participate in such a project.

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Genres: electronic, hip hop, jazz, song, ambient

After four months of preparation, migrants and refugees participating in the social theatre workshops conducted by members from the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support team took to the stage for their premiere performance in Warsaw. With a combination of movement and dance, the artists drew inspiration from their own inspiring life stories, including their experiences of migration displacement.

I was very pleased to work with this team, the director and actors are great! This is the first performance in which I not only wrote music during rehearsals, but also used already released material from my other projects Stork Tales and LLHH.

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Genres: electronic music

Director: Victoria Yegorova
Composer: Ilya Semashkevich
Text: Morris Panych
Performed by: Paulina Pytlak, Adrianna Hanslik, Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki, Filip Orliński, Volha Karalionak.
Artistic solution: Danila Goncharov.

The performance was based on Morris Panych’s Girl in the Goldfish Bowl – a story about a girl being traumatized in her childhood. It starts when her goldfish dies and she finds a stranger on the beach thinking that he is a reincarnation of her fish.

The musical accompaniment for this performance was the album “illhveli” released on Penumbrum, in which I dive into the underwater world just like the main character. This is my first experience using an album for an entire production. It’s amazing how music can reveal itself over time in different contexts.

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