21/09/2025
‘CLICK INTERVIEW’ WITH Tangerinecat
Few artists can weave raw emotion and Experimental sound into something as unflinchingly honest and artistic as tAngerinecAt. The UK-based, non-binary DIY duo have carved out a unique space in the underground with their fusion of Industrial, Electro, and Folk elements—anchored by cathartic vocals, haunting hurdy-gurdy textures, and powerful, poetic narratives. Their new self-released album, “Grief”, is a deeply personal exploration of loss, resilience, and transformation, taking listeners on a visceral sonic journey that refuses to shy away from vulnerability. With its release, tAngerinecAt invite us to confront grief and discover the strength that can emerge from it. I spoke with Zhenia and Paul about the genesis of “Grief”, their artistic evolution, and the live tour they’re about to embark on.
‘BE ON THE SIDE OF TRUTH NO MATTER WHAT’
Q: Could you introduce us to the origins, background, and story of tAngerinecAt, which began several years ago? How did you come together, and what were the key motivations and defining moments in your career?
Paul: tAngerinecAt was formed in 2008 in Kyiv although it wasn’t our first musical project together. It was called DARK PATRICK but we changed our name in 2014 because of wrong associations connected to that name. I am from Cheshire but I lived in Ukraine for 19 years. I met Zhenia in Kyiv in 2001 and we first started playing music together back then.
Zhenia: tAngerinecAt was created after visiting then 80 year old Theodosia in the Carpathian Mountains who spent a large part of her life in the Gulags. I’ve been learning, making music and performing since I was 10 but I never had the right connections or money so I gave up many times, and decided to quit forever. Theodosia’s stories about her time in the Gulags and about her resilience, and also her encouragement and blessing became my second breath. She asked us to not be silent and always be on the side of truth no matter what. Theodosia said: ‘One day you will return, go to the graveyard nearby, and see this portrait of me on one of the graves. And then you will either thank me or curse me’. That’s how tAngerinecAt began.
Paul: We released 7 albums and extensively toured for many years all over Ukraine, the UK, and Russia–before it attacked Ukraine in 2014. We moved to UK in 2015 due to the war and persecution due to our activism. We couldn’t tour in EU until 2020 because Zhenia needed a work visa and had to wait till he got British citizenship. Then Covid hit and so we had to wait until 2023. That year we played WGT, Tallinn Music Week, Sharpe festival, Ex Tenebris Lux festival, Hradby Samoty, and toured in Germany, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia. The following year we went on tour in Germany with PROJECT PITCHFORK and performed at festivals in Lithuania and Italy.
Q: Your music and style are, to me, a true enigma. By this I mean it’s difficult to describe and even harder to categorize into a specific genre—which also makes it original. Can you tell us more about your musical influences and approach, and what role tAngerinecAt plays in your artistic expression?
Zhenia: I learned music in music school and then in college and through self-study so I listened to many different genres of music. I don’t have a favourite genre of music. We never tried to make music in a particular genre, and didn’t try to be like anybody. I wrote Pop songs when I was 9 or 10. Then I played and sang in a Doom-Metal band. I studied different musical instruments, academic, Pop and Folk singing. My education is orchestra director. As much as I became more musically educated, the more I discovered new things, so my music became more and more complicated.
I don’t know how the music I’ve listened to is reflected in tAngerinecAt but if you are a musicologist or something, you may recognise which elements come from where. I played the works of contemporary composers in an Orchestra listened to Siberian and Mongolian overtone singing, “Aranjuez” by JOAQUIN RODRIGO, Soviet-Punk and Rock, Doom-Metal, Hard-Rock, performed dumy and songs by Ukrainian kobzari which have Turkic roots and Folk music from different regions of Ukraine, learned Sean-Nos singing, listened to Dark-Jazz, some Malian music and a lot of different genres of Electronic music. Paul introduced me to Blues and such musicians as THE DOORS, BOB DYLAN, HOWLIN’ WOLF… I also rang the bells in the main Kyiv Orthodox Cathedral with Paul.
I would say that our music leans more toward being Post-Metal. It’s definitely on the heavier side.
Q: Lyrics are clearly very important to you and reflect your commitment to addressing poignant themes such as politics, the war in Ukraine, mental health, gender identity, and more. Can you tell us about this commitment and why it’s so important in your work?
Zhenia: Poetry has always been very important for me. If I like a song, I always want to find the lyrics. I started writing poetry before I started to make music. I can’t write lyrics that have no meaning because I think and analyse a lot. I’m often told that I have an analytical brain. From childhood I read a lot of books which helped me to survive terrifying conditions that I had to live in, so words are of great importance to me. I don’t write about something because it’s trendy. I write about things that affect me in some way, that I have something to say about, and I use poetic imagery to communicate. I find the latter to be an act of resistance.
I was born in the Soviet Union where artists who use poetic language unlike the state sanctioned social realism of the time, were punished, banned and imprisoned. I noticed that this attempt to control art is also present in Western left art subcultures, Punk movements etc. This is why tAngerinecAt is often excluded from this scene. As someone who already saw the consequences of this approach, I find it very oppressive.
Q: How did the new album “Grief” come about, and how do you see this release in the context of your artistic evolution compared to your previous work?
Zhenia: I went through a big shock. First, my mother died in Ukraine from Covid-19 complications. We didn’t communicate for ten years because she was very abusive. In one evening all the memories that I had buried came crashing down on me, and I thought I would lose it from the stress. A few days later, Russia began its full scale invasion of Ukraine. So, it was another huge blow. Then, a couple of months later, just before our previous album “Glass” was released, my loved one broke up with me. Then Israel invaded Palestine. Fascism is rising up all over the world. That’s how “Grief” came about. There was nothing else to write about.
In comparison to our previous work, it’s our most honest album. I did everything the way I really wanted. When I listened to “Grief” after the recording, I always cried. I didn’t believe that I wrote these songs because I didn’t allow myself to grieve before. “Grief” became my mirror and gave me the ability to understand myself better, to be compassionate to myself, to love myself and to be proud of myself. I’m still crying when I listen to it.
Technically, “Grief” is much more complex, polished, and carefully arranged and produced than our previous works. We used all the techniques, knowledge and skills that we learned over all these years. I’m also happy that I utilised my stage speech training from my college years in the spoken word pieces. In Ukraine, I had national and regional awards as an actor and poet, so I didn’t want my skills to be wasted.
Q: Could you share more about your collaboration and the creative chemistry between you in the studio? What stages did you go through in composing and finishing “Grief”?
Paul: We work very hard until we like what we hear. Then it goes through a process of refinement and often transformation into something different. We enjoy the process and pay a lot of attention to detail.
Zhenia: Usually, I create drum parts and then lyrics and melodies. Then Paul joins the process and we work on the track together. Paul creates a lot of new sounds from all sorts of different sources including our own voices and various acoustic musical instruments that they record and sample. I arrange everything together and decide how it should all fit. We work together on sound design and create synth parts etc.
Q: tAngerinecAt is clearly a live band with a wealth of experience. How important is this aspect for you, and how does the music transition from studio to stage? How would you describe yourselves as a live act, and what are your plans for future performances or tours?
Paul: In the past we recorded our music after it had been performed live numerous times. We would slowly add new songs to our repertoire as we went along. Then at some point we recorded the songs and released them as albums. This was the case up until the album “Glass”, although the songs “Something Broke Inside” and “Mass Of The Black Cats” were performed previously albeit in a very different way. Most of “Glass” was recorded during covid-19 lockdown so it was a very different approach for us and it was the first time we did an official album launch tour where the music had not been performed live before.
We took a similar approach with “Grief” which we also recorded as an album first. The live versions have yet to be heard by anyone. The live show will be twice the length of the album and there is probably as much work put into the live show as the original recordings. We love the album but we think the live version is even better in a lot of ways, and it includes a lot of improvisation, theatrical elements and even dance.
Zhenia: Live performances have a great meaning to us. We treat them like ceremonies! In October 2025, we will embark on our “Grief” album launch tour in the UK and in April 2026 we are going on tour in Europe. Below are our tour dates. European tour dates haven’t been announced anywhere yet because the schedule is not complete but we are sharing a sneak preview here exclusively.
2025
03 October - Brighton, UK / Daltons
04 October - London, UK / The Old Church, Stoke Newington
09 October - Leeds, UK / Lending Room
10 October - Manchester, UK / Sacred Trinity Church
11 October - Nottingham, UK / The Chapel
17 October - Gateshead, UK / The Black Bull
18 October - Edinburgh, UK / The Voodoo Rooms
24 October - Bristol, UK / The Louisiana
25 October - Coventry, UK / The Tin Music and Arts
Tickets: https://www.tangerinecat.net/tour
2026
11 April – Bonn, DE
13 April – Bochum, DE
15 April – Hamburg, DE
17 April – Berlin, DE
18 April – Pilsen, CZ
22 April – Vienna, AT
23 April – Graz, AT
More TBA
Q: You strike me as a true DIY band, sparing no effort to reach a wider audience. How important is that independent approach to your work, and what does it reveal about you as individuals?
Zhenia: This is our work. We sell our music and merch. So, it’s important to us to reach a wider audience. We tried to contact some labels in the past but either they weren’t interested or we didn’t like their terms. The latter happened when we were bigger than the label. We aren’t against working with a label if we think it’s mutually beneficial and if we have full control of our creative output. Luckily, now there are other ways to connect with your audience but there’s no denying the gatekeeping roles that labels and industry still hold.
If you meant in a creative sense, luckily we have enough skills to work on our music ourselves.
Q: Looking ahead, how do you see the future of the band, and what plans do you have for the near future?
Paul: At the moment we are only thinking about touring with “Grief” and looking for more tour dates, trying to find promoters and bookers etc. We will definitely create some new music between our tours. There will also be another surprise for our European fans who come to our shows but that is a secret for now. :)
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