Two I Am – Land Art (2019)

Two I Am

Barbara Błaszczyk - vocals
Przemysław Pankiewicz - keys

Land Art

PRIVATE EDITION 5908252860807




By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish duo called Two I Am, which consists of vocalist/songwriter Barbara Błaszczyk and keyboardist Przemysław Pankiewicz. Cajon player Wojciech Lubertowicz guests on one track. The album presents seven tracks, six of which are original compositions by Błaszczyk and one is a standard. Four of the tracks feature lyrics, one in Polish and three in English. The music was arranged and produced by Pankiewicz.

The music absolutely escapes classification, and for lack of a better option I see it as a Jazz-World Fusion, as it amalgamates Jazzy moods and improvisations with strong Polish Folklore inspirations. But regardless of which definition one wants to apply here, the music is absolutely brilliant from start to finish.

The intimate vocal/keyboards setting is perfect in this case and lacks absolutely nothing to make this music work. Błaszczyk offers beautiful voice parts in a wide palette of vocalese and singing, while Pankiewicz provides sensitive and imaginative accompaniment, delicately emphasizing the vocal parts and managing to work out some impressive solo parts as well.

The music is like a breath of fresh air, deeply melancholic and highly melodic but at the same time spacey and open enough to include improvisation and leave something for the listener's imagination. Personally I prefer when Błaszczyk uses vocalese and honestly think that using lyrics, especially those in English, degrades the result on the whole, but it certainly is not fatal.

Overall this is an exceptional debut effort, which leaves the listener wishing for more, which hopefully will arrive soon. It proves that the young generation of Polish Jazz musicians is open to explore and bravely take the path less travelled. Congratulations are in order!