WARНЯКАННЯ
A documentary record of the full-scale invasion in poetry and electronic sound
Members
Voice and Electronics
Anton Slepakov
@antonslepakov (opens in a new tab)Musician and lyricist, one of the prominent figures of the alternative scene in Kherson, Dnipro and Kyiv in the 1990s–2000s. In 1997 he co-founded and fronted the band (Ya) i Drug Moy Gruzovik and its side project Negruzoviki; in 2013 he formed Vagonovozhatye (now VGNVZH).
Each of Anton’s texts rests on in-depth research into its subject. In WARНЯКАННЯ, poetry becomes a way of documenting the war in sound.
Andrii Sokolov
@walakos (opens in a new tab)Electronic musician, sound engineer and designer with roots in Dnipro. As walakos, he writes and performs his own electronic music; he was the live sound engineer for VGNVZH.
He works with composition, sampling, noise textures and field recordings. In WARНЯКАННЯ he builds the electronic foundation that interacts with the voice and the field recordings.
“For the first two weeks it seemed that music had died forever. That the most accurate illustration of an emptied city was a ringing silence.
But after a while, words and sounds began to crawl out of distant shells. As long as we are alive and able to record what is happening, we will keep doing it, as best we can.”
About
WARНЯКАННЯ is a music and poetry project created after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The project works as a form of sound documentation of the war. Texts, music and recordings are made in real time and reflect everyday life during the war.
The first part of the project took shape from a civilian point of view and was presented in a series of concerts in Ukraine and Europe. The material from this period was collected into a 23-track release, which was also issued on vinyl.
After the members joined the army, the project entered a new phase, Call Sign “Publicist”, adding field recordings of combat work and military life.
Part One
Civilian Experience
The first part of WARНЯКАННЯ took shape from a civilian point of view, starting in March 2022. The music does not dominate here; it makes space for the voice.
In 2022–2023 the project played live a lot, and new pieces appeared as reactions to, or reflections on, events of the war.
Over this period there were about a hundred performances at festivals and cultural venues in Ukraine and Europe. Part of the money from track sales and concert donations went to military units close to the project.
Many listeners said these performances also had a therapeutic effect on them.
The album features parts by Stas Korolov (Skotch) and Anton Shyferson (The Club That Doesn’t Exist).
Video by Viktor Pryduvalov
“Nickcave”
The video for “Nickcave” was made by director Viktor Pryduvalov as a visual continuation of one of the key texts of the project’s first part.
The song captures an idea of post-war life—simple things put off “for later”: a night at home, coffee in your own city, travel, silence returning to everyday life.
The visual language of the video treats these expectations as fragile images of the future. It forms a separate layer of observation—the space between the present experience of war and a projection of normality that has not yet arrived.
A tour of frontline and wounded cities
The Kontur Tour
In December 2022, WARНЯКАННЯ took part in Kontur, a documentary music tour.
The route ran through frontline and recently liberated cities of Ukraine. In each city there were concerts, meetings with local communities and filming of documentary material about life during the war.
The WARНЯКАННЯ performances became part of this journey and a live presentation of the project in cities living through the war.
Beyond the local context
European Tour
In February 2023 the project set off on a charity tour of European cities. The first concert took place in Kraków; the route then covered 13 more cities in Poland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Norway.
Most concerts were intimate events where text and sound worked as a direct record of the experience of war for audiences outside Ukraine.
The proceeds went to Musicians Defend Ukraine, a fund that supports Ukrainian musicians serving at the front.
The European tour carried the project beyond its local context—as testimony and as a form of presence in which the voice of war sounds in a foreign cultural setting without adaptation or translation.
A landmark event
WARНЯКАННЯ 5.0
The final concert of the project’s first part was WARНЯКАННЯ 5.0 at the Kyiv House of Cinema on 21 November 2023.
It was a full presentation of the accumulated material, with guest performances by Oleksandr Mykhed, Stas Korolov, Stanislav Ivashchenko (Si Process), Anastasiia Vesna, Yevhenii Dubovyk, Oleksandr Kolmen-Serdiuk and DID.
Vinyl Release
The material of WARНЯКАННЯ’s first part was collected into a full-length release of 23 tracks.
The album came out on digital platforms in 2023 and was later remixed and released on vinyl by the Dnipropop label.
The Dnipro-based label Dnipropop issued the vinyl edition as a double LP (2LP).
The limited box set includes two records and an art book with the lyrics and photographs by Ukrainian documentary photographer Stas Yurchenko.
The album was recorded and mixed in Dnipro at Yurii Bulychev’s studio (Monotonne).
The first pressing sold out completely. The box set is no longer available and has become a fixed artifact of the project’s first stage.
LiRoom Golden Star
Album of the Year 2023
The album received the LiRoom Golden Star in the Album of the Year category from LiRoom, a Ukrainian media outlet focused on new Ukrainian culture and contemporary music.
The editors chose on several criteria: artistic novelty, quality of execution and emotional impact.
They named WARНЯКАННЯ one of the most notable musical works of the year on the Ukrainian independent scene.
The award was part of the year-end review that LiRoom’s editors regularly compile for the Ukrainian music industry.
Part Two
Call Sign “Publicist”
In summer 2024, Anton Slepakov and Andrii Sokolov joined the Defence Forces of Ukraine. They serve in different units and are stationed in different cities.
Since then, the documentary range of WARНЯКАННЯ has naturally grown to include reflections from inside the army.
Of course, it is hard to find time for creative work in the military, so the material comes together more slowly—but the project goes on, and new pieces are being made even at a distance.
Yevhen Honcharov (@i_ce)
Field Recordings
While the second part of the project was being made, Yevhen Honcharov (@i_ce) joined the team—co-founder of Module, the cult club in Dnipro, and of the Dnipropop label.
For the project he records the sounds of combat work and military life in the field. The atmospheres and individual samples from these recordings become material for new pieces and form a new documentary layer of the sound.
warнякання. Part Two—Call Sign “Publicist” · 2025–2026
New Singles
01/02
армований, Вахтова машина
03/04
Тарантіно Ліс, Холод
05/06
Мойсей, Солдат Прикро
In the press
Articles and Broadcasts
2024
2023
- “I just feel other people’s pain acutely.” Anton Slepakov created the cult band I Drug Moy Gruzovik, came up with Vagonovozhatye, and is now taking Warнякання on a European tour to raise money for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (opens in a new tab)
- Warнякання: the poetry of nowadays (opens in a new tab)
- Anton Slepakov (VGNVZH) has been documenting the war in Warнякання for a year. We asked how it helps him (opens in a new tab)
- On Fire 03 (opens in a new tab)
- Sharp Angle (opens in a new tab)
- Fête de la Musique in Lviv (opens in a new tab)
- Culture During the War. The North (opens in a new tab)
- Anton Slepakov and Andrii Sokolov’s project warнякання releases an album (opens in a new tab)
- “You have to flip a certain switch just so you don’t go mad.” An interview with Anton Slepakov and Andrii Sokolov (opens in a new tab)
- Episode 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Contemporary Ukrainian Music (opens in a new tab)
2022
- Anton Slepakov (Vagonovozhatye): “I’ve written so much in Russian that there’s no need for it now” (opens in a new tab)
- “Doing what you live for is your duty.” An interview with Anton Slepakov and Andrii Sokolov (opens in a new tab)
- Music in the Service of War (opens in a new tab)
- Interview on Radio Yeden (opens in a new tab)
- Anton Slepakov: soundtracks of the war, the tribunal, The Hague, switching to Ukrainian (opens in a new tab)
- Searching for identity in frontline cities. A report from Korolov and warнякання’s Kontur tour (opens in a new tab)
Press kit · rider · videos
For Promoters and Media
Download
Live Videos
- Dnipro · DCCC · WARНЯКАННЯ at Curfew Jazz #6 (opens in a new tab)
- Vinnytsia · Live in Vinnytsia (opens in a new tab)
- Kyiv · Blue Lizard Live (opens in a new tab)
- Kharkiv · Yermilov Centre · Kontur—Live in Kharkiv (opens in a new tab)
- Ukraїner · Culture During the War. The North—video (opens in a new tab)
- Dnipro · WARНЯКАННЯ at Dnipropop UnderGround (opens in a new tab)
- Kyiv · House of Cinema · WARНЯКАННЯ 5.0—video report (opens in a new tab)
Contact us
Performances, project collaborations, music licensing for film, theatre or exhibitions, media requests. We’ll reply by email.
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Support the Artists
Buy the tracks officially on Bandcamp or support the artists with a donation via base by mono.