iamthemorning’s Marjana Semkina has set up a fundraiser with Leprous singer Einar Sjolberg and guitarist Tor Oddmund Suhrke, and Agent Fresco frontman Anor Dan Arnesen, to raise money for animal shelters in Moscow.

“A couple of months ago I was on a 30-dates long tour with Leprous and Agent Fresco,” she says, “singing and doing some tech work. Over the month on the road we really bonded over our love for animals and everything nature and that’s when I realised what my annual charity fundraiser should be dedicated to. Einar, Tor and Anor kindly offered to join forces with me this year and it’s gonna be directed towards a couple of animal shelters that are drowning in debt in Russia and Ukraine. The guys signed some paper birds that I’ve made and now I’ve put them on Bandcamp. Each bird comes with three postcards with bands’ artwork and the minimum price is set to 10 USD but you are of course welcome to donate the amount you find reasonable. All the money will be sent to animal shelters towards the end of February. I will, of course, keep everyone updated on the progress and where we’ll send the money to eventually, so stay tuned.”

The birds, postcards and signed artwork are all available from individual pages set upon the iamthemorning Bandcamp site for each band. So for iamthemorning head here, for Leprous head here and for Agent Fresco, here.

“This is something I was planning to do over Christmas time to remind everyone that it’s all about giving and helping and supporting and not buying things you don’t need, but my UK visa got seriously delayed and that’s why I’m only launching it now,” she explains. “But again, it’s not just on Christmas that we should try to be kinder to each other and try to improve the world to the extent of our abilities.”