Piotr Kurek is a Warsaw-based musician, multi-instrumentalist and composer. Drawing on a diversity of approaches and influences, he creates music centred on the human voice and occasionally composes for film and theatre. Known to work as a solo musician, but also as part of various collaborations, he has released music on Edições CN, Mondoj, Hands In The Dark, Black Sweat Records, Dunno, Sangoplasmo and other labels. His latest album Smartwoods is a sprawling root system of tiny melodic phrases that loop and curl around subtly evolving instrumental thickets. The Warsaw-based producer and composer takes his cues from early music, baroque and experimental jazz, entangling his influences with filigree traces of contemporary computer music and fuelling it with sonic vapors from the near future.
Made up of seven distinct segments, the album blurs its acoustic and electronic elements into an illusory hedge of abstract sound. Harp, saxophone, clarinet, double bass, voices and guitar twist into computerised processes and synthesiser chirps, creating an uncanny dreamworld where the real isn’t always what it seems. Each player is entwined with the other to create a living, breathing whole. Piotr has performed extensively, presenting his work at numerous music festivals like Unsound, CTM, OFF, TodaysArt, and UH Fest, as well as participating in extensive tours in Poland and abroad. He is an alumni of the SHAPE platform and OneBeat by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.
The night we slept under an overhanging cliff is a set of short pieces that I initially sketched over the past few years while working on albums and various recordings. However, these pieces have only been fully realised for this Longform Editions release. It's always hard for me to finish a song and move on from it. I often return to unfinished pieces, looking for something new in the recordings, checking occasionally if time has brought a new perspective to the music, or if I've changed myself and could try new things. Perhaps it's the use of voice in my compositions, but I get very attached to my music while, at the same time, feeling bad about leaving unfinished pieces behind. The way I work on music constantly evolves, so with each interaction with the piece, I leave less and less of its initial shape and idea. The night we slept under an overhanging cliff was originally the title of one of the tracks that I worked on from 2016 to 2019. However, when I revisited the project, I found that there was nothing left, and I couldn't remember its original essence. So it has become more of a concept and an empty vessel. I hope you enjoy the journey.