29/09/2026
This week marks our last “Grief” performances for the foreseeable future.
We’re deeply grateful to everyone who bought a ticket. It’s been so heartwarming to see how many people bought “support artists” tickets.
A few days before our concert in Sweden, Paul and I were sitting in a café, remembering the master craftsman from Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi who made my old-world bandura. We were talking about bringing the instrument back into our next album, and I decided to look online to see how he was doing. That’s when I found an article about his death: he had died in the war exactly two years earlier. I could hardly say those words out loud. I had no time to grieve. The news caught me off guard and left me with a lump in my throat and a silent internal scream of “why?” that’s still there today. I kept doing things, but felt no joy and no sense of result. I couldn’t understand why to keep going, why I was doing anything, why I was alive. I think I fell into a deep depression.
I performed the concert in Sweden in that state, feeling like I wasn’t really there, and I’m deeply grateful to everyone who came and listened. I’m especially grateful to Urpo, who travelled from Sweden to our Stoke-on-Trent show, came to Västerås too, and has already bought his ticket for Glasgow. It made me cry. You have no idea how much that presence means to me — simply being there. Life suddenly feels warmer, even against a backdrop of painful, thorny news.
I’d known Sergiy Pavlichenko for a long time. I bought an instrument from him back when it was still widely believed that “a woman shouldn’t play the old-world bandura, especially not the kobzar repertoire” — which is exactly what I was playing at the time. Sergiy was a great support to me. We visited each other, drank tea and w**e... Sergiy gave tAngerinecAt its first show. He booked us at a festival in his region! Sergiy was one of the most joyful, kind, generous and genuine people I’ve ever known.
He went to war as a volunteer. We hadn’t been in touch with him for a long time. We didn't fully appreciate what he did for us back then, and we regret it very much. This is my personal grief, but I also feel the world lost something very important. He was a wonderful craftsman who made rare instruments. He should still be alive.
I need time to understand what I’m feeling. I need time for the tears to ripen.
Music is my salvation, my survival, and, as an immigrant in a small Welsh village, my way of talking to the world. I’m so glad there are people beside me, even if only through the music. Every time we meet is a celebration. Thank you for your support and trust. We will miss you.
Upcoming performances:
Thursday 1 October - The Ferret - Preston
Friday 2 October - NICE N SLEAZY - Glasgow
Saturday 3 October - Upstairs Inverness
Find tickets on our website. Link in comments.
📸 Playing the bandura made by Sergiy Pavlichenko, at a home concert in Brovary, years ago.
