Shortparis


Shortparis is a Russian experimental group formed in Saint Petersburg in 2012.

History

Nikolai Komyagin, Alexander Ionin, and Pavel Lesnikov met in their hometown, Novokuznetsk, and formed Shortparis in 2012 upon moving to Saint Petersburg. They were later joined by St. Petersburg natives Danila Kholodkov and Alexander Galyanov. The band performs songs in Russian, French, and English. According to John Doran of The Quietus, Shortparis is following in Sergey Kuryokhin's legacy of provocative performance art; Doran describes the group as "Ambitious, bombastic, incredibly pretentious, erotic, thrilling, impossible to pin down, vaguely deviant, fun to dance to and full of revolutionary potential".
Shortparis opened for The Kooks in 2015 and alt-J in 2017 at Saint Petersburg's A2. The band started gaining attention in English-language music publications for their performances at MENT Festival, OFF Festival, Pop-Kultur Berlin, and Station Narva Festival in 2018. In April 2018, Shortparis performed alongside Kazuskoma, Spasibo, Glintshake, and Elektroforez in Minsk, Warsaw, Poznan, Berlin, and Kaliningrad as part of a tour showcasing Russian bands. In May 2019, Shortparis undertook their first UK tour, including performances at Liverpool Sound City and The Great Escape Festival.
In August 2019 they also played in the electronic festival Brave in Kyiv.
The group appeared in the 2018 film Leto, performing a cover of David Bowie's "All the Young Dudes". In 2019, the song "Chto-to osoboe vo mne" appeared in the episode "Chapter 4: SYZYGY" of season 2 of The OA.
Shortparis made the shortlist for GQ Russia's "Discovery of the Year" award in 2019. At the 2019 Jager Music Awards, Shortparis won Band of the Year, as well as Single of the Year and Video of the Year for "Strashno".

Members