Tomasz Bien is a young musician from Warsaw, Poland, also active into the duo At Home. So Quiet is his solo project, with this first self-titled release on the Error Lofi netlabel, presented as a “7 songs of minimal lo-fi sounds like Sigur Ros or múm”.
Of course, there are hints of both, mostly from múm, but So Quiet never copies them, instead his aesthetical directions are, from the points of view usually followed here, far more interesting: between melancholy, introspection & quietness. So Quiet is closer to artists like Squares on Both Sides, Sepia Hours, explores a fragmentary approach not too far from Empress and Halkyn, and sometimes uses this science of beats typical to Komeit or This Mess Is Mine.
Tomasz Bien plays Rhodes piano, guitar, melodica, cymbals, vermona, loops and beats. He sings on a few songs of this 21 minutes ep, with a shy, slow and whispered voice somewhere between Sebastien Biset (Sepia Hours) and Nicola Hodgkinson (Empress).
“September” is a dreamy song, with Rhodes piano, delicate muted beats - probably created with ordinary objects -, a few electronic lullaby sounds and loops, and quivering and drowsy vocals. It’s a simple but soft and sensitive song, like the first rainy days of September or these light misty mornings, these first autumnal signs that revive the need to slip into a sweater.
Ethereal bells, twinkling stars and glistening dewdrops on the marvelous instrumental “Night time” are a perfect introduction to the daydreaming “Waiting for winter” with warm and endearing tones, disarming vocals and an acoustic guitar à la Komeit. Deeply lovely. “Is this” is a somber instrumental with a disquieting loop, like the sound of a handful of grain sliding down a metallic surface.
There is a digital effect on his voice on “Drawing”, and a cold, almost frozen, reverb, for a strange winter lullaby not too far from the vaporous and atmospheric side of Sepia Hours. “This is” is a nocturnal and calmed down instrumental. “So so quiet” closes the ep on a sad and desperate note, like floating clouds of fog surrounding and slowly disorienting us, into a cold, cold night, with just the vocals as a pale trail to follow.
An impressive debut for Tomasz Bien, not an easy listen at first but slowly his atmospheres and ambiences invade us, it will be interesting to discover how he will evolve from here.
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: recommandé par dérives