London, 2025

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During this interview, I change seats, place myself in front of another artist and ask him the questions I wish people asked me. Today, I speak to Tajikistan-born, British-based composer and performer Aliya Lark, who has just released her second solo EP entitled Gravity of the Ocean. 

 

Aliya, tell us about yourself.

 

I am a musician and composer, releasing piano music under the name of Aliya Lark. My project is relatively new — I released my first track in April 2024. I was born in Tajikistan, and grew up in Russia. In Saint Petersburg, I had a band called Giallo for twelve years with a classic lineup: drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and vocals. I wrote dream-pop, trip-hop, and trip-rock music for this project. We performed a lot, were very active on the live scene, opened for the British musician Tricky, the Norwegian band Flunk, and even toured in Tokyo. After the beginning of the war in 2022, I quickly decided to leave the country. We were doing our best remotely, but moving to another country was a life-changing decision. Unfortunately, we had to take a pause in music production. The last album was released at the end of 2022 and I am forever thankful for that experience we have been through with Giallo. Here in London, I chose not to take a break, especially since music is a huge form of therapy for me. Music is my nature, there was no chance to stop because it was the only way to balance my emotional state. And of course, thanks to my close ones who have patiently supported me.

 

Tell us about Gravity of the Ocean, your latest solo project?

 

I am a person of water. I have always been drawn to the sea, the ocean, really, any body of water. Being near water makes me feel alive. Back in 2018, my project Giallo released an EP called To the Earth. It was dedicated to the idea that, although humans live on land and breathe air, we are essentially amphibious beings that emerged from water during evolution. I have always been inspired by the theme of another element. I often dream of a vast, turquoise mass of water, immense and powerful, beyond human control. As Aliya Lark, in my new EP Gravity of the Ocean, I return to the theme of water again, telling stories of foreign cold shores and the endless, magnetic space that one longs to enter and sink into.

 

What are some of the influences as a musician and composer, and specifically for this latest EP?

 

Now that I am working in the field of neoclassical piano music, I have discovered many wonderful musicians and composers, such as Joep Beving, Laurel Halo, Yehezkel Raz, you also one of them to be honest, Doug and some others. It was a pleasant surprise to find that our tracks appeared together on the same compilation from the Spanish label AD21 Music. And I would like to confess again I am constantly inspired by the music of Rachmaninoff, Chopin, and Stravinsky. Their works will forever remain in my heart.

 

Tell us a bit about your creative process; how do you come up with new works for instance?

 

My life motto in music is not to wait for inspiration, but sit down at the piano right away. And it really works. Creativity is not just about inspiration, it is also hours of searching for ideas, hours of feeling out a mood, hours of trial and errors. I am also all fired-up by visual beauty: natural landscapes, art museums or new cities. I often record sounds of nature or the noise of the city. These soundscapes create a layer over which melodies can be easily imagined.

 

What is the role of technology in your music?

 

I use Logic Pro for recording and mixing my tracks, and for my first EP Sparks, on the track “Seven Sisters”, my setup included the legendary Omnichord synthesizer. I always try to have my Tascam recorder and a small Akai MIDI keyboard with me when I travel, so I can quickly capture melodies. Loving natural sounds technology has its own role in my music. I do not use AI in my music at all,  but I do use it for album covers. All my covers were created with Midjourney. If any visual artist is reading this and would like to create artwork for my future releases, please feel free to get in touch. I love to collaborate!

 

How is living in London shaping you as an artist?

 

London and my immigration gave birth to this project. London is a very crowded city that can drain your energy, but at the same time, the city gives it back. It is a place of creativity in solo and collaborations, new projects and visions - you can feel it in the air. I go to concerts of musicians whose music I grew up with. This power, coming from human genius, helps me keep writing music and sharing it.

 

So after Gravity of the Ocean, what’s next?

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Thank you for this question, Doug. I have a soundtrack written for the stage play Diaries of War by Sasha Rann, which was performed on the London stage in July this year, releasing it either this year or next. For sure I am planning to release another single. And of course, I am always in the process of writing new music.

 

Thanks very much Aliya. One last for the road — one book, one album, one film —, tell us about your latest cultural pearls?

 

Live performances by Tigran Amasyan, Beth Gibbons, Young Fathers; the opera Fasten at RBO; documentaries My Octopus Teacher, Soviet Bus Stops, Stray; the film Brutalist. By the way, about brutalism, I adore the Barbican!

 

Bouncing on Aliya’s words, and encouraging all our readers to discover the beauty of brutalism, which is present everywhere in Europe and around the world — and not only in the largest cities but also in unexpected remote areas. Read my review of Gravity of the Ocean.