Mikołaj Trzaska – Eternity for a While LP

On November 4 Instant Classic will release a brand new solo album from one Poland’s most revered free jazz musicians – Mikołaj Trzaska. Entitled „Eternity For A While”, it consists of seven studio tracks recorded and mixed by Trzaska himself. 

Trzaska is known for his playing with legendary band Miłość that toured with Lester Bowie in the 90s. He performed and toured with Peter Brotzmann,  Joe McPhee, Michael Zerang, Tim Daisy and rhythm section of Mats Gustafsson’s Fire!. He’s currently heavily engaged in composing film music (including award winning movies „Kos”, „Wołyń” and „Dom Zły”). 

„I do reckon that ‘Eternity For A While’ is sort of a new opening for me,” Trzaska admits. „There’s a lot of overdubs on the new record and that’s not what I was familiar with earlier in my musical career. On top of that I’m also responsible for the performance and recording process, including mixing. I want to become more independent, deconstruct my own approach to the concept of sound. I am inclined to stress more the expression and meaning not virtuosity and precision. What remains constant though are the instruments I am using – this time mostly clarinets,” he explains.

Trzaska’s film industry experience allowed him to approach his solo compositions from a new angle. „I learned how to express different emotional states and then combine those with pictures and stories. And this goes hand in hand with production because I’m often adjusting music to specific visuals. I know what has to be done to make the message clear. Sometimes it involves cutting and pasting, less often leaving the whole parts intact.” 

„Eternity For A While” was recorded in a now defunct prayer room of a Jewish funeral home in Słupsk, Poland. “I spent a couple of days there, recording track after track. I’ve been listening to this place for hours, trying to understand how this building absorbs sounds from the street outside and how it responds. All of my solo records have a deep connection to the place where they were recorded. Places are memories and memories speak to us through sounds. It’s an acoustic mirror that allows me to take a look at myself,” Trzaska says.

Graphic design by Daniel Szwed (moonmadness.pl). Mastering by Werner Dafeldecker.