Nicholas Szczepanik has been undeniably killing it lately. Last year’s
Sueños and Entre los Árboles both confirmed his mastery of epic minimal drone in two distinctively different manners. Sueños highlighted Szczepanik’s relatively new fascination with the interactions of pure frequencies while Entre los Árboles was more in the style of Szczepanik’s previous work with its gorgeous sustained synth harmonies. On Not Knowing, Szczepanik manages to artfully combine these two strains of his work into one beautifully coherent composition.
Not Knowing develops on a piece of the same name from 2011’s Ante Algo Azul and transforms that work into an immaculate circular composition. The record begins with an austere drone, but then slowly transforms into a beautiful wash of synth harmony that almost imperceptibly fades slowly back into the drone that began the composition. It makes sense that Szczepanik dedicates this record to Eliane Radigue because, like her work, Not Knowing unfolds itself with extreme subtlety, and carefully places the listener in new sound worlds without making them feel like much has changed at all. It’s a further testament to his distinct skill at crafting magnificently entrancing long form works.
Nicholas Szczepanik’s Not Knowing is out February 25 via Desire Path Recordings. You can listen to an excerpt of the record below:
• Desire Path Recordings: http://www.desirepathrecordings.com
• Nicholas Szczepanik http://www.nszcz.bandcamp.com