“12th December 2010, Oldest sound, broken piano key….”

“From Scattered Accidents” is the first Kitchen. Label release from Polish multimedia artist Szymon Kaliski, who has up till now released 3 well-received albums by international critics. Known for combining lo-fi techniques with new digital technologies in exploration of for individual methods of expression, compositions are always borne of acoustic sounds which are then looped, decayed and reconstructed digitally through his own self-made software and unique hardware.

“From Scattered Accidents” centers around the themes of imperfection and fleeting phenomena. Recording began in the Winter of 2010, and the album chronologically documents his creative process over a year. Preferring to pick up anomalies in his recordings which arose from the process of constructing his acoustic loops or curated set of found sounds, a single key on a broken piano with its patina and wear was picked up as one of the few working materials. The young artist then meticulously crafted a world around it and allowed accidental collisions to occur till the arrangement seemed to quiver naturally on its own. This study of flawed beauty and quietude echoes the distinctly Japanese pantheon of Wabi-Sabi. Two collaborations precede, featuring prodigious young composer Peter Broderick on violin and Aaron Martin on cello who add variation in harmonics and dynamic ranges as well as the heightening of emotion and scenic intensity of this work.

“From Scattered Accidents” resonates a form of pastoral decay amidst the city dross, filled with cracks suspended in slowed down soundscapes. Accompanying the tracks are 16 pages of monochrome photography by Jan Hoffmann, who has captured the desolate side of urban life and the lesser-seen parts of Paris from odd angles. To paraphrase Baudelaire’s observations on the city – absolute and eternal beauty are but an abstract notion, creamed off from the general surface of different types of beauty, and Parisian life is rich in poetic and wonderful subjects saturating us like the atmosphere but we fail to see it. These images have become a representation of memories fractured and broken in parallel to Szymon’s sound craft, and as part of the sound and visual diary the latter has kept over the period of time.

Szymon lets his subtly shifting textures flow on their own unhurriedly, almost with an organic sense of timing, and they seem to take us through scenes of smoke-filled rooms, the aroma of coffee on rainy days or the fragmented conversations of strangers dissolving into distant chatter. Evoking sentiments of desolation and solitude in the context of urban pastoralism. Ricks Ang, the curator of Kitchen. Label, and also one-half of ASPIDISTRAFLY, masters the final work. “From Scattered Accidents” is destined to pique the interest of listeners of Tim Hecker, Chihei Hatakeyama, Andrew Chalk and the early works of label mate FJORDNE.