[UPL 069]
Jan Strach
“Jan Pierwszy Starszy”
The title could suggest that this is a debut, [“Jan the first the elder”], but it is far from the truth – this album is JS’s 60th (sixtieth!) release overall and 8th under his own name. But at the same time, after years of refining, meandering and looking for his “own sound”, the sworn-lofi experimental casio rocker claims to finally have achieved the middle ground between all his influences and interests on this one. And although jumping between many styles, it is in fact his most balanced yet – synth-pop, post-punk, shoegaze, chillwave, experimental tendencies leave enough space to breathe for pop sensibilities and epic synths – and as usual DIY spirit ensures that nothing is ever too calculated and lifeless – things constantly move, snap to place, click and keep the sounds flowing organically. And all Jan Strach trademarks are still here, distorted synths, some heavy guitars, some lovely delayed noodlings, romantic strings, odd time signatures, noisy outbursts, curious samples, and plenty of plain weirdness.
Proudly released on July 14th as part of the global Netlabel Day 2016, on the best Polish place for the homemade DIY lofi weirdness, Underpolen Netlabel.