Shortparis

Did You Know?

• Shortparis appeared in the 2018 film Leto, performing a cover of David Bowie's "All the Young Dudes".
• Their song "Chto-to osoboe vo mne" was featured in season 2 of The OA.
• They were nominated in the Best Director category at the Berlin Music Video Awards in 2019 for their work 'Scary'.

History

Nikolai Komyagin, Alexander Ionin, and Pavel Lesnikov met in Novokuznetsk and formed Shortparis in 2011 after moving to Saint Petersburg. They were later joined by Saint Petersburg natives Danila Kholodkov and Alexander Galyanov. The band released their debut album Docheri in 2013, featuring songs in English and French. Their 2017 album Paskha marked a shift to all-Russian lyrics. A third album, Tak zakalyalas' stal, followed in 2019. In September 2020, the single "KoKoKo / Struktury ne vykhodyat na ulitsy" was released, its title referencing graffiti from the 1968 Paris riots. In January 2021, Shortparis contributed to a compilation honoring Osip Mandelstam. Their fourth studio album, Yablonny sad, came out in June 2021. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the band released a music video protesting the war. On 20 February 2026, frontman Nikolai Komyagin died at age 39 after feeling ill following a boxing workout.

Live performances

Shortparis first shared a stage with The Kooks in 2015 and alt-J in 2017, both times at Saint Petersburg's A2 venue. Their 2018 festival appearances—including Haldern Pop, MENT, OFF, Pop-Kultur Berlin, and Station Narva—drew notice from English-language music media. The band toured with Kazuskoma, Spasibo, Glintshake, and Elektroforez through Minsk, Warsaw, Poznan, Berlin, and Kaliningrad in April 2018. Their debut UK tour came in May 2019, with shows at Liverpool Sound City and The Great Escape Festival, followed by a performance at Brave! Factory Festival in Kyiv that August.