"Piotr Kurek plays it stone-faced. His music teems with strangeness, yet even his most outré pieces have a lulling effect; it's uneasy listening that casts a blissful spell. Make no mistake: The Warsaw composer's music is way out there. His records are miniature worlds where the usual laws don't hold. Kurek loves to blur the line between authentic and ersatz, natural and synthetic, cause and effect; resolutely tactile instruments like vibraphone are balanced by ethereal wisps of Auto-Tune."
"After the diaphanous, shape-shifting chamber jazz of 2023's Smartwoods, Kurek's new album Songs and Bodies seems at first like a move back toward solid ground. It's billed as an interrogation of '90s post-rock bands like Gastr del Sol, Labradford, and the Sea and Cake; peer past the woozy strings and miasmatic layers of processed vocals, and it almost snaps into focus as a trio record for guitar, bass, and drums."
Piotr Kurek's music combines uncanny, disembodied textures with tactile instruments to produce a lulling, blissful yet uneasy listening experience. Records function as miniature worlds where usual musical laws are suspended and boundaries between authentic and ersatz, natural and synthetic, blur. Sonic elements range from vibraphone balanced by Auto-Tune to cybernetic bagpipes and holographic harps, with voices that could be cellos. Songs and Bodies leans toward solid ground while invoking '90s post-rock aesthetics, revealing itself beneath processed layers as a trio-driven record for guitar, bass, and drums. A firm rhythm section anchors strange, bioluminescent swells and groove-heavy arrangements.
Read at Pitchfork
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