Rock Without Borders: IVIM’s First Music EP Brings Censored Russian Rock to the English-Speaking World [NEW MUSIC RELEASE]
After Half a year of work Six legendary Russian rock songs about truth, freedom, and critical thought are now released in English by IVIM
Читать эту статью на русском - здесь.
Abstract
On 21 May 2026, IVIM’s first music EP is released on Spotify, Apple Music, and other major music platforms.
On Spotify and Apple Music, the EP appears under the title Rock Without Borders.
On YouTube, the project appears as Censored Russian Rock — For The Rest Of Us.
This is not simply a collection of translated songs. It is an attempt to build a bridge between two cultural worlds — the Russian-speaking and English-speaking worlds — through the music that shaped generations of people living under Soviet and current Russian reality.
The EP highlights songs from three legendary Russian rock groups whose music, for more than forty years, served as a moral and philosophical compass for millions of Russian-speaking listeners confronting propaganda, censorship, conformity, and authoritarianism.
These songs helped several generations preserve critical thinking, humanity, irony, spiritual independence, and inner freedom during difficult historical periods in Russia and the Soviet Union. Today, many of the same themes resonate far beyond Russia itself, including in Canada, the United Kingdom, and other English-speaking countries.
Each song on the EP was chosen and carefully reinterpreted into English to preserve the emotional depth, philosophical meaning, and beautiful music vibe of the originals.
The EP includes:
Откуда этот свет / Where the Light Comes From — by Andrei Makarevich / Mashina Vremeni
Свеча / While Burns the Candle Free — by Andrei Makarevich / Mashina Vremeni
Скворец / Cuckoo — by Andrei Makarevich / Mashina Vremeni
Плоскость / Rituals of Unmeasured Nonsense (We Stood on a Plane) — by Boris Grebenshchikov / Aquarium
Милая, не трать время / Don’t Waste Your Time — by Boris Grebenshchikov / Aquarium
Долго… / River of Truth (It Has Been for So Long) — by Yuri Shevchuk / DDT
The lyrics and arrangements are by Dmitry Gorodnichy (IVIM). Production and music engineering are by Divya Trikona.
I hope these songs will resonate with you as deeply as they resonated with me and millions of others across the Russian-speaking world — including in Ukraine, my home country, especially now.
PROMO VIDEO: River of Truth (It has been for so long)
Below is the full story…
The Story
There are songs that entertain.
And there are songs that shape generations.
Today, after more than half a year of work, I am releasing a new album titled Rock Without Borders — an English reinterpretation of songs from three of the most influential rock groups in the Russian-speaking world: Aquarium, DDT, and Mashina Vremeni.
These are not just bands.
They are part of the cultural foundation on which an entire generation grew up — my generation. The generation that witnessed perestroika, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the hope that truth, openness, and freedom of thought could eventually prevail over propaganda and fear.
And yet today, many of these same artists are effectively no longer welcome in the country whose conscience they helped shape. Their criticism of authoritarianism, propaganda, conformity, and political repression made them increasingly incompatible with the direction modern Russia has taken.
For years, I felt that something important was missing.
The English-speaking world knows Russian literature. It knows Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Tarkovsky. But the music — especially the philosophical and deeply poetic rock music that shaped millions of people across the former Soviet world — remains almost entirely unknown outside of it.
And that always felt tragic to me.
Because these songs contain so much truth, wisdom, sadness, beauty, irony, courage, and humanity that I always wanted to share them with my English-speaking friends.
So this album became my attempt to build that bridge.
Over the last several months — and after well over one hundred kilometers walked through forests and ski trails while thinking through translations, melodies, meanings, and emotions — this album slowly came to life.
On Spotify, the album is released under the title Rock Without Borders.
On YouTube, the project will appear as Censored Russian Rock — For The Rest Of Us.
Because these songs are no longer only about Russia.
What these musicians once wrote about Soviet propaganda, fear, conformity, censorship, and totalitarian thinking now resonates far beyond Russia itself. Many of the themes feel increasingly universal — applicable to societies across the world, including Canada.
Not because history repeats itself identically.
But because human nature does.
And because every generation eventually faces the same eternal questions:
Who tells us the truth?
How much freedom are we willing to trade for comfort?
What happens when fear becomes normalized?
And how do ordinary people preserve humanity in systems that slowly pressure them to stop thinking critically?
About the Promo Video
The promo video above — Долго… / River of Truth (It Has Been for So Long) by DDT — was created using Canadian footage for a song originally written by Yuri Shevchuk last year about the atmosphere of censorship, hypocrisy, and conformity in present Russia.
Yet I think many listeners will agree how naturally the lyrics, mood, and emotional tension of this song also resonate with the current political and cultural atmosphere developing in Canada and across much of the Western world today.
I should admit, however, that the final verse — the one that ultimately gave the English version its title, River of Truth — was not part of the original song. It suddenly came to me in the middle of the night during one of those days I spent working on the reinterpretations for this album.
You can listen to the original song and watch the original video in the earlier article linked below where I announced my plans to begin writing a novel about my own experience of searching and fighting for truth in Canada.
Epilogue
Similarly, all the other songs on this album went through a long process of transformation: first listening to the original song, then learning to play and sing it in its original language, and finally spending hours walking, skiing, reflecting, and meditating on it until it slowly transformed into the English reinterpretation that appears on the album today.
The project began with one of our favourites - Откуда этот свет / Where the Light Comes From by Mashina Vremeni — a song that was also released last year.
When my wife and I first heard it last year, we were so deeply moved that we almost cried. You can listen to the original version here, as well as one of the early original demos here.
P.S.
I also chose the release date of this album very intentionally.
21 May is the birthday of my oldest daughter. She will become 24 - the age I came to Canada in 1995 from Ukraine.
She was born here in Canada, while I was born in the Soviet Union. And in many ways, this album is my attempt to connect those two worlds — spiritually and culturally.
For me and my wife, these songs became much more than music.
They became our compass - just like it said the line from the first song (Откуда этот свет / Where the Light Comes From)
I wanted this album to become a birthday gift to my daughter.
Not simply as a collection of songs.
But as a compass she can carry with her through life -
Because regardless of what happens in the world, the compass is always yours.
And the songs are always yours — to sing, to remember, and to return to when the world becomes confusing.
Each song on this album carries a very deep meaning of its own and is known to millions of Russian-speaking people. These songs are part of a shared cultural memory — songs about truth, dignity, freedom of thought, inner strength, irony, conscience, and resistance to propaganda.
And so one of my hopes for this album is simple:
To help bring this musical and philosophical heritage to English-speaking audiences as well — including my own daughters, who, even though they speak Russian, are still only beginning to discover the depth and importance of these songs and the cultural foundation from which they came.
The images of the artists used on the cover of this album are based on a photograph taken with my daughter when she was just one year old. Happy 24th birthday, Mila!
Support This Work Across All Channels
If you believe in open dialogue, informed choice, and exploring underreported perspectives, help keep the conversation going by sharing this article and following my work.
You can follow me here: LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube (@Dr.Dmitry.Gorodnichy) | YouTube (@IVIM) | YouTube (@DivyaTrikona)
Thanks for sharing, Dmitri! Listening to it now, great interpretation! Music will save the world!