Uvula (band)

Uvula (Увула) was a Russian indie-rock band formed in 2015 by frontman Aleksey Avgustovsky and guitarist Aleksandr Smirnov. According to Aleksey, in 2023 the group was put on a blacklist of bands in the Russian Federation and was prohibited from playing concerts at large venues. The group announced its disbandment in November, 2022.

Background
The name of the band comes from a cyrillicization of the (Latin-derived) English word uvula. In an interview with The Flow, frontman Aleksey Avgustovsky recalled hearing the name while in a class at university.

Because Uvula is a loan word in Russian, there is sometimes some confusion about its pronunciation. Though the band members often place the stress on the second vowel (i.e. Уву́ла), they have also said that they are open to their fans pronouncing it however they like.

2015-2016: Creative beginnings and Nikak
Frontman Aleksey Avgustovsky said in an interview that he and lead guitarist Aleksandr Smirnov were living in tents in the south of Russia near Anapa when they decided to form a band in 2015. The other members, with the exception of Aleksandr, left the project after a year.

Uvula got their start playing in the St. Petersburg bar Ionoteka (Ионотека), known for its connection to the Russian underground music scene. "The same place," says the club on their VK page, "where Buerak, Elektroforez, Ploho, RSAC, Ubiytsy, Kazuskoma, Sonic Death, Shortparis, Shchenki and other heroes of the domestic scene began."

The group released its first LP, Nikak (Никак), on April 4, 2016. Released on the label Colanade Magic Bros, the record is notable for its shoegaze style.

In September 2016, Uvula performed at the Russian indie-music festival Homecultism alongside groups Padla Bear Outfit, Sonic Death, and others. In this performance, the group played songs from Nikak and several early versions of songs that would end up on the group's second album Ya dumal u menya poluchit'sya (Я думал у меня получиться). A compilation featuring the songs, “pulpy” and “natural behavior,” titled Homecultism Vol. 1 was released in 2016 by the label POW! POP KIDS. The songs “pulpy” and “natural behavior” would later be re-worked to become the songs “We” (Мы) and “Intro” respectively.

2016-2019: Ya dumal u menya poluchit'sya and rising popularity
Over time, the group gained a small following on the Russian social network VK, and Aleksey became more serious about continuing the project. According to the group, following the release of Ya dumal u menya poluchit'sya in 2017 Uvula began to attract more fans and received various opportunities to play at larger venues. Though they began to make more money through merch sales and concerts, the travel and housing costs began to affect the group. In 2019, Aleksey sold his car in order to produce more merch.

2019-2020: Nam ostayotsya lish' zhdat', Nothing supernatural, and the COVID-19 pandemic
On April 1, 2019 Uvula released their third LP Nam ostayotsya lish' zhdat' (Нам остается лишь ждать). To present the album, the band held a concert in Moscow at the Aglomerat on April 30, 2019, supported by the group Avtosport (Автоспорт).

On June 21, 2019, Uvula played a concert at Nike Box in Gorky Park, Moscow. On July 4, 2019, they released the full recording of the concert on YouTube.

In 2020 Uvula joined Homework (Домашняя Работа), a label created by members of the group Pasosh: Kirill Gorodniy, Petar Martich and Grigoriy Drach.

On March 5, 2020 Uvula released their first EP, Nothing Supernatural (Ничего сверхъестественного).

On March 25, 2020 the music festival Bol' (Боль) held an online concert entitled "Karantin eto bol'" (Карантин – это боль) in which they collected funds for bands who had shows cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This included the group Uvula. Aleksey said in an interview with Sobaka that the group donated the money from this concert to the Sozidanie Foundation to help doctors in Russia.

Later, in March 2020, the group performed on the Russian talk show Evening Urgant (Вечерний Ургант) playing their song “Elektricheskiy Tok” (Электрический ток).

In April 2020 Uvula contributed to the compilation album Ne vykhodya iz doma for the Institute of Music Initiatives (IMI) with the song Pobeg. The album highlighted several local musicians who were affected by the pandemic, including Bicycles for Afghanistan, Intourist, and Soyuz among many others.

In April 2021, IMI hosted Aleksey Avgustovsky on a YouTube livestream entitled How to write good songs without in-depth songwriting knowledge (Как писать хорошие песни без углубленных знаний сонграйтинга). In the video, Aleksey shares tips from his experience working with the group Uvula and songwriting in general.

Leaving the label Homework
In 2021 the label Homework ceased operations after allegations of violence were raised against Petar Martich, one of the founders of the group Pasosh. Aleksey Avgustovsky spoke out about these accusations and announced Uvula would be leaving the label. Aleksey stated on Uvula's telegram channel, "This morning, we gathered as a group to discuss everything that did not allow us to publish the usual notes from the tour. The band decided to leave the label Homework, in connection with the accusations received by one of its founders. For us, the label is a community of people united by a common idea. We worked for the sake and for creativity, but, unfortunately, now it has become something completely different, not close to us.

We expected that the response would be dictated by the values that the label had previously promoted. We stood for honesty in our manifestations, equality, the LGBT+ community, for a normal social system and a different Russia. We saw something else that annoyed us as musicians and people. Namely, a backlash in the form of accusations. We support Anya Zosimova and worry about her."

Severe Weather
On October 1, 2021, the group released their most recent LP to date, Severe Weather (Устойчивая непогода). Aleksey said in an interview that this was the first album the group had recorded on a tape recorder, with previous albums being mixed but not recorded in analog.

Leaving VK
In June 2022 the group released a statement on its VK account stating that it no longer felt comfortable speaking or hosting its music on the site. In the post, the group announced that it would be removing its music from both VK and Yandex Music. The post made clear that the group did not want to use services from companies who “cooperate with the state.” The group also discouraged their followers from using services like VK.

On November 30, 2022, the group ceased operations after being placed on a list of “opinion leaders” by the Russian Federal communications, technology, and mass media agency Roskomnadzor. This effectively put the group on a black list, and according to the group, they were no longer able to perform at large venues within the Russian Federation.

On December 15, 2022, the group released a collection of Aleksey's demos to raise money for “humanitarian aid.”

2023–present: Post-breakup
On October 12, 2023, the group released a set of merchandise ahead of their final EP.

Musical style and influences
Uvula plays a unique style of music which falls within the broad indie-rock category with elements of synthwave, jazz, and post-punk. The art and culture publication Colta described the style as "...atmospheric-romantic dream-pop, drowned in a cozy guitar ringing a la the 80s..." One festival organizer described them as the “Russian version of The Smiths.” Uvula's music is most often described as dreampop or surf rock, and even Midwest emo, though the group rejects classification. Furthermore, the frontman Aleksey stated in an interview that he thinks the group's association with the post-punk scene is “reckless”

The group's earlier works (before 2020) have been described as "...extremely relaxed, as if melting in the predawn fog..."

Commenting on Uvula's most recent album, Severe Weather, Aleksey Avgustovsky notes,

"We have become 'heavier', as it seems. The guitars have more pronounced timbres, the bass is loaded in many places, we really may have become closer to alternative rock, without wanting to. This is hardly a bad thing, since, as a rule, our genre is invented for us, and the more assumptions, the more interesting what associations we evoke in the listener."

Band members

 * Aeksey "Lek" Avgustovsky — guitar, lead vocals
 * Aleksandr Smirnov — guitar
 * Denis Shilovsky — drums
 * Artemy Shilo — bass
 * Shilo frequently uses the Hohner B2A, a headless bass guitar introduced in the 1980s.
 * Roma Kuzankin — keyboard

Breakup
In 2023 every member of the group was placed on a list of “opinion leaders” in Russia by the state censorship agency Roskomnadzor following a crackdown on "foreign agents" in Russia which included many artists and opposition journalists. Aleksey has hinted numerous times at a blacklist which forced the group to stop performing at large concert venues. Aleksey and other members of the group fled to Yerevan, Armenia where they performed a concert and lived for some time.

Circle K
Circle K (stylized: circle k) was a joint video production project between Aleksey Avgustovsky and Alyona Koleso. Together they recorded the music video for “ты и твоя тень.” That video now has more than one million views on YouTube (as of December, 2023). They have also created music videos for musicians such as Sexhater and Tima ischet svet.

Fleece Flower
Fleece Flower (stylized: fleece flower) is a project created by Aleksey Avgustovsky, producing EDM and Dance-inspired music with Aleksey's signature vocals. However, most of these songs have been removed from streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. Recordings still exist on Bandcamp, YouTube, and SoundCloud.

Lek
Lek (stylized: lek) is a solo project created by Aleksey Avgustovsky. In 2022 he released his first LP entitled 1000 i 1 razbitoe serdtse.