Moving between lo-fi experimental songwriting, sparse post-punk textures and intimate recordings; Ukrainian artist Regina Collage’s new album ‘Horizont’ is a personal and honest document of rebuilding a life and creative voice in Bristol. The record holds space for themes of burnout, quiet shame, tenderness and the courage of staying emotionally open when the world feels unstable.
Sung entirely in Ukrainian, ‘Horizont’ does not ask the listener to understand every word. Feeling carries the songs forward. Across bedroom recordings and borrowed studios, Regina moves between cloudy dissonance and stark minimal arrangements built around bass, fragments of guitar, and an exposed voice. The recordings hold onto their rough edges. Mistakes remain and imperfection becomes part of the story.
“Music for me is about not being scared to be vulnerable,” Regina says. “Almost every song I have is about what it means to be open and emotional. I really do not think it is a weakness. I hope people can listen and feel welcome to take a break and just let their emotions exist.”
The album takes its name from the Ukrainian word for “horizon,” that unreachable line where sky meets earth. For Regina, the horizon became a quiet metaphor for living with distance and uncertainty. Inspired by one of her collage artworks showing a figure lying in grass and staring toward that far line, the title track reflects a feeling of moving toward something that never quite comes closer. Even without understanding the lyrics, the song carries a slow sense of longing and suspended arrival.
‘Vpiznavaty’, by contrast, initially feels almost light. Beneath that surface is a candid portrait of burnout and depressive exhaustion. The song looks at those moments when even greeting friends feels overwhelming. It captures the quiet embarrassment of withdrawing from people you care about, and the slow recognition that sometimes stepping away is simply how you survive.
Other songs reveal different sides of the same emotional landscape. ‘Weak’ strips everything back to bass, a hint of guitar, and a bare vocal. Written and recorded in a single instinctive session, the track circles around the idea that softness might be its own kind of strength. Repetitive and intentionally unpolished, it quietly sets the tone for the whole record.
Running through ‘Horizont’ is the reality of Regina’s life between Ukraine and the UK. Her hometown Kharkiv continues to face attacks, and many of her friends remain on the front line.
“It is important for me to speak about Ukraine and remind people that the war has not ended,” Regina says. “Some of my friends are fighting and some are still making music. They were musicians before the invasion and everything changed for them. My hometown Kharkiv is under constant attack. My parents are there. Even if it is not always in the news, it is happening every day. I also want to represent our underground music culture. I love the music from Ukraine and the people making it.”
Regina recently collaborated with Valentina Magalletti for a three day residency at Café OTO, supported AD93’s Ben Vince, and is working with Susumu “Zongamin” Mukai. The album is released by Do You Have Peace?, the local Bristol label run by Amos Childs of Jabu, O$VMV$M and Young Echo. Bristol has also shaped the album in unexpected ways, with Regina finding herself welcomed into a musical community she had long admired.
“I always loved Bristol’s music scene, especially Beak>, who have been my favorite band for a long time,” she says. “I also spent time at Invada studio, where I worked on some of the album. It is a beautiful story when something you admire suddenly becomes part of your life.”
That sense of fragile connection runs through ‘Horizont’. The album does not attempt to polish away uncertainty or sadness. Instead it sits quietly with those feelings and lets them breathe. In Regina College's world, vulnerability is not something to fix. It is proof that we are still here, still feeling, still human.
TRACK LISTING
1. Tremelo
2. It Should Be Something
3. Davno
4. I Hope
5. First New Place
6. Svitlo
7. Vpiznavaty
8. Horizont
9. Pain
10. Vzhe
11. Weak
12. Firestation
13. Hto
