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BUT I'M NOT (PAWEL GRABOWSKI) - DAEMON TRANCES I-VI

Format: CD Label & Cat.Number: Silence is not empty Release Year: 2021 Note: Polish Drone Records artist PAWEL GRABOWSKI (DR-72) is back with a new project name and an intense work about trauma and the 'Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)', expressing the emotional loop that he calls 'Daemon Trance' => ghostly singings, low piano tunes and strokes, noises of scraping and ultra slow, captivating drones create a super deep, unescapable intense atmosphere... - 6 tracks, mastered by COLIN POTTER, highly recommended! Price (incl. 19% VAT): €12.00 More Info This album is about trauma and PTSD. The music portrays the emotional loop... the continuous reminiscing about the traumatic event the never-ending anxiety and paralyzing panic attacks... ... from which a traumatized person simply cannot escape. I call this state the daemon trance (and, unfortunately, I know it far too well...) Recorded between January and May 2021 at SINE studio, Ireland. but I'm not is Pawel Grabowski (processed live instruments, field recordings, objects.) Mastering - Colin Potter at IC Studio, August 2021 Cover photo: Artur Mieczkowski (www.instagram.com/anxious_93/) https://silenceisnotempty.bandcamp.com/album/daemon-trances-i-vi "It's been a long time since I heard music by Pawel Grabowski (check Vital Weekly 414, 424, 492 and 508, but following that flurry of releases, it all went quiet for him. That was "mostly due to family, and life in general". Now he has a new moniker and a new label. The new name is But I'm Not (lower case, except for 'I'), and on 'Daemon Traces I-IV' he wanted to compose that captures that unique state is known only to people suffering from the aftermath of a traumatic event". According to the cover, it is something that he is "unfortunately all too familiar with". "Each of the six compositions portrays different aspects of what a traumatized person goes through, often every day - the continuous reminiscing about the traumatic event". This is one of those things of which I think "had I not known this, would I have heard it?". I guess not, but my personal view towards music is a very 'absolute' one. Music is never about anything. Anything attached to music to make it about something is not music; they are words used, descriptions, images (a record cover), that kind of thing. Grabowski explains the nature of the trauma for none of these six pieces, which leaves something to imagine, I guess, but also a hole in our knowledge (why not go all the way). Grabowski uses "processed live instruments, field recordings and objects". It is a pity that these live instruments are not specified. I hear a piano on quite a bit on the pieces, solemnly slow bangs on the keys, Gregorian voices in the first one (which I think that Grabowski went all gothic, but, good news, he didn't), a fair bit of synthesizers and sound effects and the samples of marbles in a bowl (also in the opener). Some of the other sounds are harder to define. Throughout the music solemn, slow and very moody. A bipolar disorder, with some extreme darkness and extreme happiness, is not to be found here. Grabowski reminded me what I thought of his older releases in a private letter, but they are so far away in the past that I don't remember them. Therefore it is not easy for me to say to what extent this new one is different from his previous releases. I think this is a solid album, a severe one, and while the subject is not very well spend on me, I can see that he's serious in creating music that paints a picture of those suffering from trauma and PTSD. [FdW / Vital Weekly] FULL PRESS RELEASE: About daemon trances “Daemon trances I-VI tells a story about experiences of living with trauma and PTSD. My objective when composing this music was to capture that unique state known only to people suffering from the aftermath of a traumatic event. And so, each of the six compositions portrays different aspects of what a traumatized person goes through, often every day – the continuous reminiscing about the traumatic event, the never-ending anxiety, paralyzing panic attacks... For my use, I refer to this state as the “daemon trance,” and the music on this album perfectly represents what I often struggle with in life.” About Pawel Grabowski Pawel Grabowski (b. 1977) – composer specializing in writing deeply personal electroacoustic and drone music. Grabowski uses prepared instruments, field recordings, and objects to create meditative and hypnotic compositions to convey emotions and create unique atmospheres. He refers to his music as Imaginism. Background: ● Although he doesn’t have a formal music education, between 1998 – 2001, Grabowski studied double bass with a famous Polish jazz bassist, Janusz Mackiewicz. ● He also took private tuition in classical composition between 2000 - 2002, first with prof. Krzysztof Olczak, then with prof. Eugeniusz Glowski ● He also participated in international composition workshops at the Academy of Music in Gdansk, Poland, in 2002. ● In 2002, he was selected as one of the artists representing his home city, Gdansk, at the Art Biennale - “ArtGenda” in Hamburg. He wrote music commissioned for various projects of the biennale. ● In the same year, he composed a piece commissioned by the Baltic Cultural Centre in Gdansk, showcased during a presentation of composition students of the Academy of Music. Career: ● Grabowski founded a chamber trio, Miasto Nie Spalo, in 1998 and recorded two albums with the band: Festspielhaus (1998) and Piesni Zalobne I-VII/Threnodies I-VII (2000 - released on the famous polish label, Obuh recs.) ● Between 2001 – 2006, Grabowski recorded solo, publishing his music on such labels as Drone records, Laub records, Cronica, Mystery Sea, Dark Winter, and more. ● Since 2020, Grabowski performs as but I’m not and runs a small, independent record label, Silence Is Not Empty.