Listening to Resina’s music, it’s easy to picture the looks of quiet awe and building adoration that must have spread across the FatCat Records office when they first played the demo for Warsaw-based composer Karolina Rec’s solo album. That demo, produced by Maciej Cieslak and recorded mostly live, saw Rec get quickly signed to FatCat’s post-classical imprint 130701. Her eponymous debut release under the name of Resina is due September 30.
A veteran of several Polish alternative bands with her own approach to improvisation and melody, Rec’s debut is said to be “a result of experiments with cello and simple electronic tools – sometimes close to the form of song; sometimes based more on powerful, intuitive impressions but always marked by the desire to use non-obvious characteristics of the instrument.” You can hear all of that in “Flock,” which we have the pleasure of premiering below.
The “Flock” experiment starts off like a whale song conversation, loping glissandi piles on and around each other until fragments of melody begin stirring roughly a minute in. The melody then folds over on itself with the glissandi until a moment of clarity arises about halfway through. The track takes on a Penguin Café Orchestra vibe from there, rhythmically and harmoniously coalescing around its modest melody. It’s as cute and sweet as it is emotionally resonant.
Check out “Flock” for yourself below, followed by a video of her performing live from late last year. And look for Resina in two weeks on 130701.
Resina tracklist:
01. Tatry I
02. Flock
03. Tatry II
04. Nightjar
05. Dark Sky White Water
06. Afterimage
07. Not Here