Małe Instrumenty - Chemia i Fizyka (Obuh, 2012)

Małe Instrumenty (band):

Paweł Romańczuk

Marcin Ożóg

Tomasz Orszulak

Jędrek Kuziela

Maciek Bączyk

guest:
Andrzej Załęski

Chemia i Fizyka (Obuh, 2012)

Małe Instrumenty – Small Instruments – the name says it all: the whole band is about … small instruments. But that wouldn’t do the project right. Although it all started in 2006 with Paweł Romańczuk setting up a band to make use of his collected (small) instruments they never were a mere show band, exhibiting funny ways to produce sounds, instead they presented what's possible when you use all aspects of any instrument. Over the years they could be heard in quite some diverse contexts like audio books and film music showing a wide range of sound spectra. And even with “Chemia i Fizyka” (“Chemistry and Physics”) you will immediately get the impression of a soundtrack. (I felt most of the album like in a computer game though, many have probably come across “Machinarium” with the wonderful soundtrack by Tomáš ‘Floex’ Dvořák.) But since they are quite unrivalled with what they're doing a comparison is at least difficult.

On their first album “Antonisz” (released in 2009) they played own arrangements of music by the Polish film maker/composer Julian Józef Antoniszczak, and the second one in 2010 was called “Małe Instrumenty grają Chopina” (“Małe Instrumenty plays Chopin”). So “Chemia i Fizyka” is actually their first one with original material (all compositions made by Paweł Romańczuk). And it´s not only the compositions that distinguish this one from the former records, it’s also the sound that is much more mature here. They are still using small instruments of course but Wojcek Czern (and Piotr Nykiel doing the mastering) did a splendid job here. At no moment you will hear high-pitched voices or think of the music on this record as childish – although some of the instruments are actually toys. It seems that the musicians felt quite well at Studio Rogalów Analogowy and that the motto of the record company OBUH fitted perfectly here: “Odgłosy Bocznic Utworzą Harmonię” (roughly: “The sounds of side tracks create harmony”). The music of Małe Instrumenty comes – in a positive way – from a side track and it creates some wonderful moods.

There are two tracks though that don’t quite fit in, “Mostacha” and “Allegro”. That’s probably the reason why they were chosen as the last ones on the album. What separates them from the rest is the use of more experimental sounds and noises. (“Baroni” too features sound alterations.) If you watch the video below you will see that the members of the band are very imaginative when it comes to producing some new sounds and inventing new instruments, and I like those two songs most – but when you listen the whole album from the beginning through to the end this brings in quite a break and I’m not sure if that is really wanted.

“Chemia i Fizyka” is a clear recommendation if you like music off the main tracks and it’s recommended too if you like harmony! 

By   Dirk Blasejezak

Musicians of "Małe Instrumenty" aboy themselves:



Sample of their style:

Tracklisting: 1 Profesor Bambosz i jego uczniowie 2 Problemy z chemią na lekcjach fizyki 3 Śmierć na pięć 4 Gość z Alaski 5 Baroni 6 Pućki 7 Mostacha 8 Allegro