Tomasz Bednarczyk: Let's Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow
12k

12k has an uncanny knack for bringing out the best in its artists and Tomasz Bednarcyzk's Let's Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow is no exception. Not that the young Wroclaw, Poland-based musician's previous two full-lengths, Summer Feelings and Painting Sky Together, on Room40 aren't satisfying collections, but the third signifies a noticeable advance, due in part to the narrative arc that reveals itself over the recording's forty-three minutes. In place of unrelated pieces, Bednarcyzk sequences the ten tracks so that the album moves from a comparative zone characterized by lightness to one darkened by murkier ambiance.

The album's opening five tracks are like variations on a meditative ambient theme, with each floating vignette offering a slightly different take on the genre style. In “While,” blurry guitar tones shimmer amidst the lulling flow of static hiss and soft percussive noise, while an outdoors field recording by Sawako lends the otherwise ethereal “Shimokita” an expansive and earthy dimension. In the melancholic “Drawing,” a sonar-like plink punctuates a dense mass of glassy tones and crackling textures, and a deep bass pulse anchors a slow-motion blizzard of noise textures in the even more melancholic “Autumn.” One-time Triosk member Adrian Klumpes catalyzes the album's shift in direction by adding elegant piano cascades to the field recordings of children and percussive detritus loudly crackling through “The Sketch.” Bednarcyzk shrouds the subsequent pieces in denser textural fields that make them feel less carefree and free-floating. Ever-advancing storm clouds gradually smother the penultimate setting “Little Spring” before “Night” closes the album in a retiring mood with softly glimmering bass tones breathing against a bed of crackle. Ending the album with such a twilight gesture helps deepen the album with a gravitas it would otherwise lack. Mention must also be made of 12k's beautiful presentation of the material, with the seaside photography by Joanna Kurkowska a lovely complement to Bednarcyzk's music.

August 2009