Uvula (band)
Uvula is a Russian indie-rock band formed in 2015 by frontman Aleksey Avgustovsky and guitarist Aleksandr Smirnov. According to Avgustovsky, in 2023, they were put on a blacklist of bands in the Russian Federation and were prohibited from playing concerts at large venues. The group announced its disbandment in November 2022.
However, it resumed its activity in 2025.
Background
The name of the band comes from a cyrillicization of the 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 some confusion about its pronunciation. Though the band members place stress on the second vowel, they have also said that they are open to their fans pronouncing it however they like.
History
2015-2016: Creative beginnings and ''Nikak''
In an interview, frontman Aleksey Avgustovsky said that he and lead guitarist Aleksandr Smirnov were living in tents in the south of Russia 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, known for its connection to the Russian underground music scene. The clubs states on its VK page that it is, "The same place 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, 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. During this performance, the band played songs from Nikak along with several early versions of songs that would end up on its second album Ya dumal u menya poluchit'sya ''. 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” and “Intro” respectively.
''2016-2019: Ya dumal u menya poluchit'sya'' and rising popularity
As the band gained a small following on the Russian social network VK, Avgustovsky 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 money through merch sales and concerts, the travel and housing costs affected the members. In 2019, Avgustovsky 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' . To present the album, the band held a concert in Moscow at the Aglomerat on April 30, 2019, supported by Avtosport.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, 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.
On March 25, 2020, the music festival Bol' held an online concert entitled "Karantin eto bol'" in which they collected funds for bands who had shows cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This included Uvula. Avgustovsky said in an interview with Sobaka that the band donated the money from this concert to the Sozidanie Foundation to help doctors in Russia.
Later, in March 2020, the group performed their song “Elektricheskiy Tok” on the Russian talk show Evening Urgant.
In April 2020, Uvula contributed a song titled Pobeg to the compilation album Ne vykhodya iz doma for the Institute of Music Initiatives . 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. In the video, Avgustovsky shares tips from his experience with Uvula and songwriting in general.
''2021-2022: Severe Weather'' and disbandment
Leaving the label Homework
In 2021, the label Homework ceased operations after allegations of domestic 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. Avgustovsky stated on Uvula's telegram channel,''Severe Weather''
On October 1, 2021, the group released their most recent LP to date, Severe Weather. Avgustovsky 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. Following this, the group says, they were no longer able to perform at large venues within the Russian Federation.
On December 15, 2022, the group released a collection of Avgustovsky'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.On January 1, 2025, the group released the single "here and there" with the promise of new releases to come "soon."
Then, on February 26, 2025, the group released the single "Cafe", telling fans on their Telegram channel that the "banquet" of new music would continue on March 5. On that day, the group released the EP dancing with myself. Unlike previous releases, the EP was written and performed by Avgustovsky without the involvement of the other band members.
On October 8, 2025 the group announced a China and Central Asia tour on their Instagram.
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 Avgustovsky stated in an interview that he thinks the group's association with the post-punk scene is “reckless”The group's earlier works 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,
Band members
- Aleksey "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.Other projects
Circle K
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. They have also created music videos for musicians such as Sexhater and Tima ischet svet.Releases
| Title | Artist | Type of work | Year |
| Ty i tvoya ten' | Uvula | Music video | 2018 |