The Atlas music club in Kyiv was packed on May 30 for the first headline concert in Ukraine of the Bloom Twins, a London-based band with Ukrainian origins.
But the crowd of about 1,000 was a small one for Sonya and Anya Kuprienko, the 19-year-old identical twins who formed their band, the Bloom Twins, in 2013: They have already performed at festivals in the United Kingdom, such as The Great Escape Festival, playing before crowds as large as 20,000 people.
Their success has come quickly: just four years ago, the then 15-year-old Kuprienko sisters moved from Brovary, a Kyiv suburb, to London to work in modeling and music. Since making the move, they have learned English, formed a band, and played concerts in the U.K., France, Portugal, Ibiza and India.
In June, the twins will tour with music legends Duran Duran, a popular1980s band, as their opening act. Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes has co-written several of the Bloom Twins songs.
Apart from the novelty value of having twin performers with voices ideally matched for close harmonies, the Kuprienko sisters’ success lies in their originality.
They describe their music style as dark pop. The sound is characterized by haunting vocal melodies with unusual tone intervals and sparse, keyboard-based instrumentation augmented by flute, harmonica and drums (British drummer Paul Love is the band’s third member)
Their onstage look matches the music – stylish leather clothes and dark make-up.
Sonya (L) and Anya Kuprienko talk with the Kyiv Post on May 28. The twin sisters and British drummer Paul Love are members of the Bloom Twins band, which performs songs in the “dark pop” style. (Volodymyr Petrov)
“When we moved to London, we were fascinated. But when you get older, there is always a dark side to everything,” Anya Kuprienko said during an interview with the Kyiv Post on May 28, two days before their first solo show in Ukraine.
“Dark pop is a great mixture, because it’s about love and is bittersweet. There are two sides to everything – just like me and my sister,” Anya added. “You don’t have to concentrate on the dark side – you just can say there are two of them,” her sister Sonya said.
The sisters have been playing musical instruments since the age of five. Both play the keyboard; Sonya plays flute and harmonica.
The girl’s path to success started when they were spotted on Facebook by Lenka Chubuklieva, the bassist for the Ukrainian rock band Sister Siren. She suggested that the girls move with her to the British capital, where Chubuklieva was involved in both music and the modeling business.
The Kuprienko sisters moved to London in 2012, where they worked on their songs and learned English at the same time. They said that the first two months were the hardest, as they were in a foreign country on their own – their family stayed in Ukraine.
“Just imagine, we were 15-year-old kids, we moved to London and our world changed. We had to grow up very quickly,” Anya said.
In June 2013 the twins recorded their first song and posted it on YouTube. Though the song was simple – basically keyboards with vocals – the video was a hit with nearly 139,000 views to date.
“It was a step up for us, and we realized that people loved it, and we needed to continue doing it,” Anya Kuprienko said.
Apart from their music career, the sisters are involved in fashion photography. Their photographs have appeared in Vogue, Numero and ID. During one photoshoot, they met Rhodes of Duran Duran, who offered to co-write some of their material.
Though they are a London-based band, the twins said they have promoted Ukraine among their fans and other musicians, sharing the culture, traditions, and latest news about the war in the eastern part of the country. They made a music video about the EuroMaidan Revolution of 2013-2014, playing documentary video footage as they sang Bob Marley’s “Stand Up Get Up.” The video has been viewed over 70,000 times.
The Bloom Twins recorded four singles and three music videos. Their latest video, for the song “Amnesia,” was released in Ukraine on May 30.
Just a few years ago, bands like the Bloom Twins would have been considered fairly alternative in Ukraine, and the girls said one of the reasons they decided to move to London was that they had wanted the freedom to produce original and unique music. However, they said that now more and more Ukrainians are listening to more adventurous, unusual and high-quality music.
After the show in Kyiv, the twins headed back to London. They plan to perform again in Ukraine “quite soon.”
“The people in Ukraine are great, and they’ve started to listen to more different music. New bands are popping up, and everything (in the Ukrainian music industry) is changing. So that’s why we’re here,” the sisters said.
And judging by the loud and enthusiastic reception they received from the crowd in Atlas club, the Kuprienko sisters are probably right.
Bloom Twins’ next performance is a warm-up at the Duran Duran show at Teatro Greco Di Taormina in Taormina, Italy, on June 5. The tickets are available at www.ticketone.it.
