Some nights you remember forever. Last week’s performance at Tsiferblat was one of those nights – raw, honest, and completely unplanned in the best way possible.
Playing alongside Polina Pavlova from Аууу! felt like discovering music all over again. Her band creates this wild mix of electronic sounds with ethnic acoustics and vocals that seem to channel something ancient. Their music speaks about eternal things and earthly ones, carrying ancestral power and pure nostalgia. When Polina performs, you feel that ecstatic energy calling out to something wild inside you.
The space itself made everything more intimate. Tsiferblat isn’t a typical venue – it’s this cultural hub where time moves differently. No stage barriers, no formal setup. Just people gathered in a room, sharing the same air, feeling the same vibrations when the music hits.
I started with acoustic versions of my tracks, just me and my guitar in that green hoodie I always wear for important gigs. The room was small enough to see everyone’s faces, to catch those moments when a lyric lands exactly right. There’s something magical about performing where you can actually connect with each person listening.
When Polina joined for her set, the energy shifted completely. Her voice carries this primal quality that fills spaces differently than mine. Where my songs tend to be introspective, hers are more expansive – calling people to feel their wildness, their connection to something bigger.
The black and white shot from that night says everything about what live music should be. Two artists in the same space, creating something that only happens when you strip away all the production and just let the music breathe. That’s the kind of natural collaboration that makes these shows worth doing.
What I love about these small shows is how unpredictable they become. Someone in the audience might start harmonizing. The acoustics might make you sing softer than planned. The intimacy changes how you deliver every line.
These intimate gigs remind me why I started making music. Not for streams or views, but for moments like these – when music becomes conversation, when performance becomes connection, when strangers become part of the same experience.
Next time you see a small venue show, go. These are the nights that matter.
— Indie pop artist, musician Anastasia Ledovskaya