Wacław Zimpel is one of Poland’s most adventurous multi-instrumentalists, composers and producers, thriving on jazz yet equally inspired by electronics, minimalism and global roots. He will be playing at Eurosonic showcase festival this January in Groningen, The Netherlands.
Most recent solo highlight has to be ‘Train Spotter’ an album released on 31 March 2023 his first release for London-based label ‘The state51 Conspiracy’. ‘Train Spotter’ was created to a specific brief from The City of Warsaw: to capture the Sound of the City of Warsaw. But, as Wacław Zimpel soon found out, the sounds of a city don’t exist in isolation; they’re part of a wider environment that is itself undergoing upheaval against a background of internal and external forces. Recording a variety of mechanised and repetitive sounds including tramlines, baggage carousels and bouncing basketballs in municipal parks among many other found sources, Wacław Zimpel then fed the results through a host electronic equipment including synthesisers, keyboards, beat machines and plug-ins to create something wholly new and original.Building on the notion of Musique Concrète where recorded sounds are used as raw compositional material, ‘Train Spotter’ is a record that rises in intensity, both within the individual tracks and the sequencing of the album. The resulting six tracks are both a reflection of the city that birthed it and the wider world that surrounds it.
About ‘Train Spotter‘: “Train Spotter is about my experience of a city that recently went through a pandemic, endless anti-government demonstrations against human rights violations against women’s right to choose and the LGBTQ community, as well as waves of war refugees from Ukraine and the extraordinary solidarity of people willing to help and unite across political divides to help others in need.”
More information about Waclaw Zimpel at ESNS 2024 here
Photo header: Jacek Poremba
