The Band Delirium on Their Album Spiral of Silence and the Challenges of Today’s Ukrainian Music Industry

Delirium is a Ukrainian post-punk band that recently released their mini-album Spiral of Silence, dedicated to, when, after constant conversations about what is happening in Ukraine today, a period of silence sets in.

This mini-album continues the ideas introduced in their previous record, East.

Ivan and Yehor spoke with us about their new release Spiral of Silence, the state of Ukraine’s music scene today, and their upcoming projects.

Interviewer: When and how did your musical journey begin? Why did you choose this field?

Ivan: My musical journey began back in early childhood. When I was about seven or eight years old, my friends from the yard and I formed a band called Crazy Bananas. I had an old Soviet guitar with only three strings. I didn’t know any chords, notes, or strumming patterns, so I simply hit whatever strings were left, producing chaotic sounds while singing along. My bandmates kept up the energy, enthusiastically banging sticks against pots and ceramic jugs. Looking back, I’d probably call it some form of noise rock — though at the time, we had no idea what that was.

Our repertoire was quite diverse: from covers of popular pop songs of that era to completely made-up originals. I don’t remember much, but I clearly recall a song about Winnie-the-Pooh and a Princess. We also had socially themed songs — about animals, about orphans, things like that.

Like many kids, we wanted self-expression and attention from adults. We would set up an imaginary stage in the yard, then go door to door inviting neighbors to come listen to us perform. Still, I never seriously considered becoming a musician in the future. Crazy Bananas lasted for a few summer seasons, and then quietly faded away.

Everything changed almost ten years later. In 2017, after yet another post-punk gig in Kharkiv — we used to travel there regularly since it’s close to Sloviansk and had a much more active concert scene, unlike our hometown — my friends and I decided that we needed a band of our own.

My love for post-punk actually goes back to childhood. My parents often listened to artists in that genre, although I didn’t know it was called “post-punk” at the time. Later, when I consciously began expanding my musical horizons and first heard Joy Division, I realized: “Wait — this sounds exactly like what I’ve loved since I was a kid.” (In fact, what I loved as a kid sounded very much like Joy Division.) I dove deeply into the genre’s history — who pioneered it, who influenced whom, how the movement evolved.

In short, Delirium was born out of a deep love for the genre, a collection of thoughts we wanted to express, and a desire to communicate them through music.

Yegor: My musical journey began in childhood as well, when my family and those around me nurtured my interest in music. They taught me how to understand it and showed me my first melodies on the guitar. Discovering rock culture through vinyl records, VHS tapes, cassettes, and CDs was one of the most vivid experiences of my early years. It showed me that music isn’t just background noise — it’s a vast art form with multiple layers of perception.

I quickly developed a sense of rhythm and melody, often picking them up by ear as I listened. The lyrical meanings were harder to grasp at that age, but I could already feel that it was something different from the pop music playing on TV and radio at the time.

My first attempts to form a band happened in middle school, though we never made it as far as writing lyrics. That came later, in high school, when we formed our first real band — and shortly after, another one. Two months after I first picked up a bass guitar, we were already traveling and performing in other cities.

My first serious project was called Fisher. After I independently recorded two demo albums, the project was renamed Brief für Frau Fisher, and it continues to exist to this day.

Interviewer: You’ve released a mini-album titled Spiral of Silence. Tell us about the title — what does it represent?

Ivan: Spiral of Silence is a concept that, in one way or another, each of us has encountered. Certain ideas are amplified from every direction because “that’s how it’s supposed to be,” while others are considered inappropriate by society at a given moment and therefore remain unspoken. People grow tired of arguing, they’re afraid of being rejected, and so, one way or another, they slip into silence.

In our case, the spiral of silence is also an allusion to the current state of the post-punk scene in Ukraine and the attitude toward it. In recent years, it has become almost fashionable to criticize this genre, though most people do it thoughtlessly, out of inertia — simply because “everyone else does.” We’ll stick to our path and continue making the music that we genuinely like first and foremost.

Yehor: In my view, the album’s theme continues and serves as a logical conclusion to the ideas from our previous album, East. After long conversations about a difficult present, a time of silence inevitably follows.

Interviewer: Tell us about the people you work with. What’s the most challenging part of being in a band, and what comes easily?

Ivan: At the moment, there are two of us in the band — Ivan Prykhodchenko and Yehor “Fisher” Kiktenko. Yehor joined at the end of 2020 and immediately stood out for his professionalism as a multi-instrumentalist, as well as his deep knowledge of the genre. It’s genuinely a pleasure to create and perform music with him.

Sometimes we argue while working on songs because we’re both pretty stubborn, but in the end we always reach a consensus.

Yehor: I’m a strong supporter of the DIY approach — “do it yourself.” It helps avoid situations like the ones we faced with this release, when a song was being mixed for months for reasons beyond our control. The work just sits there while you wait and hope that prioritization will finally fall in your favor.

Interviewer: The album combines black, grey, and white — a haunting present, nostalgia for the past, and hope for a brighter future. What was the main reason behind this concept? What was the process of working on the album like?

Ivan: The main reason? I looked out the window. There’s more than enough horror in our days as it is. To avoid completely losing your mind from the weight of it all, certain defense mechanisms switch on in your head.

The first one is nostalgic. You talk to friends, remember warm moments from a carefree past, and distract yourself for a while. The second is dreamlike. You imagine a future where all the good things that once existed return. You hope for something new and bright to happen instead of these monotonous days blending into one endless stream — that’s what the song “Summer” is about.

I dream of returning to my hometown — that’s what “Sloviansk” tells. I mourn a friend who was killed in the war, which is why I dedicated the song “Loss” to him. Not much good is happening these days, so the mood of the album reflects that.

The songs were written more slowly than usual. There’s a shortage of new emotions, and with that comes less inspiration. We recorded everything fairly quickly, but during the mixing stage the album fell into production hell. Due to a series of life circumstances, our sound engineer had to step away from the process for long periods, which delayed everything significantly. In the end, we decided to turn the planned full-length LP into an EP — while the songs and the emotions we had вложили in them still resonated with us.

Yegor: We wrote the album remotely and quite quickly. I worked in my home studio, Ivan in his. We experimented with a lot of different ideas and shaped the material as we went along. Unfortunately, many tracks didn’t make it into the final version.

The main issue was the prolonged mixing process — each song took months for reasons beyond our control. That’s ultimately why we decided to abandon the idea of a full-length album in favor of an EP.

The song “From the Beginning” was originally written for my other project, Brief für Frau Fisher. While working on it, I realized it had a different mood — leaning more toward a gothic atmosphere, emphasized by the ironic tone of the lyrics. So I suggested to Ivan that we include it in Delirium and turn it into a collaboration.

Interviewer: Which song will never see the light of day — and why? Not because it was “cut” to avoid production chaos, but because you truly decided it shouldn’t be released.

Ivan: In our duo, quality control works like this: either Yegor or I write a demo and then show it to the other. If the idea resonates, we continue developing the song. Some tracks get rejected at the very early stage. Others are set aside even after being fully recorded, when all that’s left is mixing.

The reasons vary. Sometimes a song loses its relevance. Sometimes it simply stops feeling right and begins to seem pointless. When that happens, we don’t try to force it. If it doesn’t feel honest anymore, it doesn’t move forward.

Yegor: One distinctive feature of this new release is the archive of demos and tracks that didn’t make it into the final version. I think we’ll return to some of them in the future. I personally have quite a lot of unreleased material — there’s even a full album sitting in that category.

The reasons differ: themes becoming outdated, dissatisfaction with the result, or simply the feeling that the song isn’t ready for the world. Sometimes songs wait for their time. Others remain untouched. That’s just part of the process.

Interviewer: What challenges have you faced while continuing your music career during the full-scale war? How has today’s Ukrainian music landscape changed in terms of accessibility for new voices?

Ivan: Because of the full-scale war, we were scattered across different parts of Ukraine, which meant we couldn’t continue working in our original lineup. In the beginning, after I moved to the capital, my friends from other music projects were a huge support — they helped with songwriting and live performances.

Traveling across the country has become more difficult. Audiences are smaller, and as a result, there are fewer concerts. Because of this, we shifted to working online: we record parts separately in our home studios and then share the material over the internet. Our guitarist Roman said he couldn’t continue working on music during wartime, so the band transitioned from a trio to a duo.

During the first year of the full-scale war, there was a noticeable and rapid rise in the Ukrainian music scene. Artists supported one another, helped promote each other’s work, curated themed playlists, and actively encouraged listeners to support local musicians. Some bands saw their Spotify streams grow by hundreds of times. It was an ideal moment to make yourself heard.

Over the past couple of years, however, that collective enthusiasm has faded. Listeners are no longer as eager to explore everyone at once, and many musicians have shifted their focus inward. As a result, a lot of artists have returned to roughly their original metrics, though some bands managed to solidify their success and become quite well known.

The interview was written by Asya Radko. Pictures were provided by Delirium band.