MACIEK SZYMCZUK „Clouds”

Music: Ambient
Website: http://www.mszymczuk.pl
Country: Poland
Duration: 59:02 (14 songs)

I’m holding the box which housed the CD now seeping sleepily from the speakers on this hot and stuffy day at the end of July 2013. The packaging is nice, why not, colorful, with clouds (which wouldn’t be amiss on an album cover by a domestic or foreign pop act) and white lettering on a beetroot-red background proudly proclaiming Maciek Szymczuk “Clouds”. Nothing unusual after all, a record about clouds with the redneck content of a series of superficial own metaphors and quotes by the blameless authors of texts from days more or less gone by.

I have seriously mixed feelings already into the first track, as the nausea is vying for dominance with a desire to turn off the CD player, douse it with gasoline and set it alight, since it has been defiled by mediocre ambient and boring, “atmospheric” – according to the author –
instrumental performances, hailing from the bargain bins of the genre, as well as Jewish tavern background music making use of the requisite
instruments (ie.: clarinet).

All of the above can be found here with a dash of female vocals, which require extensive lessons in vocal production and developing an ear for sound so that they at least roughly resemble real singing. Not only does the vocalist have serious difficulties in holding clean notes during separate syllables in relation to the track’s harmonies (which the performer is trying his best to disguise, in all his incompetence,
imparting it with the form of an intentional treatment), but “Clouds” will also expose us to English with a moderately (and that’s putting it mildly) correct Eastern European accent, certain to raise eyebrows among native speakers and anyone dealing with the language on a daily basis. I would recommend taking a break from the “mind clouds” praised so highly on this record for a while and getting to work on some singing and English lessons.

And lest we forget about the rest of this “work’s” content – there’s the satanic poetry by several authors praising Lucifer, read in a wooden monotone on every track, hardly adding much to the album’s diversity of arrangement. Some might say: an intentional treatment. I say: intellectual boredom and taking the easy way out, as if there were no original ideas for lyrics. Not to mention the countless, ludicrous deficiencies in technique, laughable rather than terrifying or
depression-inducing: totally tragic.

You’ll find this sort of climate performed better in terms of vocals, music and production on records by Sui Generis Umbra, which I encourage you to give a listen and plead with you not to waste your time on amateurs, whose work will no doubt be of interest to emo-satanic teenagers and mega dark hipsters… and that’s given all my private disdain for the founders of SGU, all the while remaining objective, of course.

Yeah, for sure, there’s no place at my small flat for superfluous releases, so the cd and it’s box will return to the record company, safe to say.

translation: Tomasz Opalinski

note: 1/10

Tracklist

1. Cumulus Congestus (Fresh Showers)
2. Cirrus Uncinus (To Watch The Clouds)
3. Altocumulus Floccus
4. Altostratus
5. Nimbostratus (Obłok różany)
6. Cirrocumulus Undulatus
7. Stratocumulus Duplicatus
8. Cumulus Mediocris (Słońce za chmurą)
9. Cumulonimbus Capillatus (Clouds)
10. Cumulus Lacunosus
11. Stratus Undulatus (Srebrne chmury)
12. Cirrostratus Fibratus
13. Cumulus Humilis (White Sheep)
14. Cirrus Vertebratus (Sunny Again)

Line-up

Maciek Szymczuk – ? (unknown position in band)
Łukasz Ciszak – guitar
Olek Kałążny – bass
Joanna Kustwan-Szymczuk – vocal
Maciej Mehring – vocal
Mariusz ‘Oziu” Orzechowski- vocal
Michał Sosna – clarinet