Light Star Guiding - Light Star Guiding (2019)

Light Star Guiding

Ray Dickaty - tenor saxophone
Mikołaj Poncyljusz - guitar
Stanisław Czyżewski - bass
Dominik Mokrzewski - drums
Maniucha Bikont - vocals (3)

Light Star Guiding

PRIVATE EDITION


By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish quartet called Light Star Guiding, which comprises of British (resident in Poland) saxophonist Ray Dickaty and Polish guitarist Mikołaj Poncyljusz, bassist Staszek Czyżewski and drummer Dominik Mokrzewski. Vocalist Maniucha Bikont appears on one track. The album presents six original pieces, which are not credited on the album's artwork and are assumed to be co-composed by the quartet members.

The members of the quartet are usually associated with the Polish Avant-Garde/Improvised Music scene, but the music on this album is overtly contemplative and surprisingly melodic, bordering on contemporary Classical chamber music, with some Jazz and Rock influences. The pieces develop slowly and gradually increase the intensity and tempo, moving towards a climax and then stop abruptly. There is a lot of trancelike repetition and ambient mood, and the overall effort is more about atmosphere than actual content.

It is difficult to separate the pre-composed and the improvised parts, but there is not much individual soloing and most of the time the quartet plays in unison and perfect harmony, rather than freely improvising. There are some obvious conceptual similarities between this music and the music of the Rdza ensemble, which also includes Dickaty and Mokrzewski. Although instrumentally Rdza is a big ensemble and LSG is a quartet, the approach is quite related and they both represent a relatively new stream in Polish Jazz, which combines ambient/trance experiments with Jazz tradition.

Overall this is definitely an interesting listening experience, which requires patience and piece of mind to get into, but is eventually very rewarding. There is not that much happening within the music, but the mood and ambience are tantalizing and keep the listener mesmerized for the entire duration. Warmly recommended and surely worth checking out!