Salvia

When a then-20-year-old Nicole Selivan left Ukraine because of the war, she also left behind a budding career in music. Four years on, and under the name SALVIA, she's releasing her debut album: ‘Cult of Suffering’ has become a form of melancholic therapy, steeped in a darkwave and postpunk sound that at times sounds surprisingly upbeat and danceable as well. After leaving Ukraine, Selivan landed in Brussels, where she met Arno De Ros (King Viktor) and just like that, SALVIA was born. A tight bassline and electronic drums give their music a gloomy energy akin to the dreampop, new wave and gothic alternative of bands like Boy Harsher, Lebanon Hanover and Current Joys. It’s a combination that struck a chord with Studio Brussel too, as debut single Time landed SALVIA a spot in the final of talent contest De Nieuwe Lichting. Since then, SALVIA has picked up airplay as far afield as Eastern Europe, Australia and the US, landing on leading indie stations like KEXP, 3FM and FIP. Live, the band has already made a strong impression at festivals in Belgium and The Netherlands, like Left of the Dial, Fifty Lab, Leffingeleuren and We Are Open. The dark mood of Selivan's music and lyrics traces back to her childhood in Kyiv, where she grew up with parents working in the funeral business. Surrounded by grief, loss and mourning, she developed a deep respect for death, mortality and time. ‘Cult of Suffering’ is an account of everything she’s been through. The war forced her to leave with nothing but the fragments of a life that no longer existed. In Belgium, she underwent a profound inner transformation: from complete instability and isolation to a slow, demanding journey shaped by discipline and an unwavering belief in her music. That path forms the foundation of this album. “I transform my experiences into sound so that I no longer carry them in silence,” says Selivan. “These songs become a space where my traumas cease to be wounds and instead take on meaning.” The album title is meant literally. “Almost all the songs explore the different mental states a person can experience during difficult times, including those I have lived through myself.” ‘Cult of Suffering’ isn't self-pity, but an honest acknowledgment of negative emotions and the ability to experience them rather than bury them inside. “Let this album be a form of melancholic therapy, because sometimes healing begins with a simple ‘I understand you.’” Musically, the album mirrors that layering. ‘You and Me’ injects a love song with dreampop and shoegaze, while ‘Annie’ sounds poppy (albeit the SALVIA way) but carries deep personal weight: the song began as a tribute to a deceased friend and grew into a mirror in which Selivan recognized herself. ‘Adrenaline’ is a smouldering highlight, its atmospheric reverb filtering the sound of The Cure and Bauhaus through a layer of shoegazy postpunk. ‘Slavic Soul’ is a key track, in which Selivan sings openly about her Slavic roots, while ‘Petting Love and Vodka’ heads for the dancefloor with atmospheric gothic indie, before folding in Berlin club-culture synth work toward the end. And then there's ‘Rutina’ — an outlier, veering toward dark disco and EBM — which Selivan kept in Russian. She wrote it six years ago on the factory floor where she assembled plasma TVs, before the war broke out and before Russian became a reviled language. She tried translating it, but says the song lost all its meaning in the process. SALVIA is one artist’s voice giving shape to shared experience, personal but recognizable. ‘Cult of Suffering’ is proof that even when you leave empty-handed, you can pick up the building blocks for something new along the way. The album is released on November 27 and will be presented on December 17 at the Botanique in Brussels. FOR FANS OF : Siouxsie, The Haunted Youth, Warpaint