​Ukrainian experimental artist Yana Pavlova has died aged 35

Ukrainian experimental artist Yana Pavlova has died aged 35, regular collaborator and close friend Buttechno has confirmed. No cause of death was given.

Buttechno, real name Pavel Milyakov, shared the news on Instagram yesterday, February 17, writing: “Yana Pavlova. Farewell, my dearest and closest friend”.

“May your beautiful soul rest in peace,” he wrote. “Your voice stays forever in our hearts. Voice full of true feeling, inner strength and melancholy.”

As a vocalist and performer, Yana Pavlova frequently worked alongside fellow Ukrainian musicians, making several appearances at popular Kyiv club K41 (∄) throughout her career.

Together with Pavel Milyakov, she worked on joint records including 2021’s ‘BLUE’ – a seven-track release spanning experimental, ambient, and techno. The album landed on Berlin label psyx in July of that year.

At the end of 2021, the pair came back together on another collaborative album, ‘Wandering’, this time comprising 10 leftfield tracks featuring Yana’s vocals.

During her career, Yana also curated an event named Seredmistia, a home for experimental and leftfield music – the sound she most often worked in.

Last year, Yana provided vocals on a track from Pavel Milyakov, ‘the thrill’, which appeared on his six-track EP ‘Enthropic Vision’. The track marked her last ever feature.

In tribute, Milyakov shared Yana’s cover of ‘Song To Siren’, a track by This Mortal Coil, online. In the caption, he wrote: “In loving memory. May you rest in peace.”

Listen below, and read some tributes.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag’s Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter