09:08 Imagine You Are Falling But There Is No Ground
30:34 Queer Shoulder
46:00 Through the Grave
My psychoanalyst thinks I’m perfectly right.
It really is the era of forgetting.
Nothing we learned in school corresponds with reality.
I refuse to give up my obsession.
I refuse to come to the point.
“Middle West” is quite far from what you could call a set of songs. It’s more like a radio programme, a concept-album if you will. Five tracks constitute “Middle West” are connected by a single text: a poem “A letter to Europe” by Athena Farrokhzad that got heavily modified for the purpose of this record.
This approach is triggered by the poem’s rhytmic construction based on repetitions and hesitations. The poem itself is also based on Allen Ginsberg’s “America” from 1956. This means that we’re dealing with a multilevel mutation, both within the text and the music that revolves around a couple of simple rhytmic patterns. These patterns are in turn reflected in the album cover using photographs of “Playground for Sheeps” installation by Agnieszka Grodzińska. Artwork should be treated as another layer focusing on a similair topics.
Grodzińska and Farrokhzad are not the only guests on “Middle West”. Actress Jaśmina Polak strained her vocal cords, guitar and bass strings were played by Łukasz Rychlicki (Lotto, Kristen) who also used the ARP Odyssey synth. They were joined by a second drum set played by Mateusz Rychlicki (Dynasonic, Kristen). “Middle West” was recorded in a couple of spots, at different moments in time by Michał Kupicz, Filip Marcinkowski, Mateusz Rychlicki, Kuba Ziołek and Konrad Smoleński. Mastering was handled by Kassian Troyer from Dubplates & Mastering in Berlinie.
The tribal aspect of “Middle West” seems a lot darker and colder than on “Multiverse”. It may have to do with a specific production techniques limiting the natural sound of drums or the way the vocals were recorded and later on mixed.
