Aleksander Dębicz's album "Magnolia" is the soundtrack to a film about a blooming garden, a film that never came to be but should have. Aleksander Dębicz has crafted a floral musical narrative, in which we witness the changing cycles of beauty.
[…] beauty is a collection of emotions that strongly impact us for a certain (usually short and limited) time. - A. Dębicz
Where The Flowers Bloom
“Magnolia” is largely an acoustic album, though not without sound effects. It starts with the track "Where The Flowers Bloom". As I am not a professional reviewer or trained musicologist, I rely on my own musical experience. "Where The Flowers Bloom" is a track where I immediately catch a "Polish note".
What do I mean by that? A Polish note, to me, is a certain yearning sound. Sometimes I find it in songs by Kult, other times in the music for the film "Vabank" by Machulski, and yet another time in a painting by Malczewski. It's indescribable. It's a sound/image that is nostalgic and moving. And this sound is present in this track and throughout the album.
Aleksander Dębicz has managed to condense beauty into a nearly forty-minute vial through music and cover art. This album is like an elixir of beauty, like a balm.
I have the impression that the composer found an extraordinary way not only to paint a blooming garden with sounds but also to somehow bring it to life in my imagination. The cover is an integral part of this perfect whole.
Bee
The next track is "Bee". The titles themselves help us find our way in this garden. If in the first track I could experience the blossoming, flowering, and fading of a flower, here my attention is caught in the act of pollination. The characteristic, looping piano is like the repeating cycles of life.
Orchid
"Orchid" is a track featuring the wooden flute of Michał Żak. It has an oriental sound, quite restless for me. I'm not fond of orchids, but their beautiful flower is undeniably a symbol of noble beauty.
In "Cedar Tree", Orliński's singing creates several layers that sound like a full vocal ensemble. - A. Dębicz
Cedar Tree
For the recording of the album, Aleksander Dębicz invited people he works with most often. "I wrote four voices for Orliński, and he recorded them all, creating a kind of choir," the composer told me in our conversation on Instagram. This is my favorite track on the album. It has something of the soundtrack to "Edward Scissorhands" by Danny Elfman. The piano very much reminds me of the characteristic Elfman-like chimes.
Illusion
I mentioned that "Polish note" earlier, in the fifth track "Illusion" I would even venture to say that it is most pronounced. Reflecting on the conversation with Aleksander, I noticed that the whole album reminds me of a soundtrack structure. The composer confirmed that my observation was accurate.
Interlude
Closing the first side, "Interlude" is an extraordinary bridge between worlds. We move from the delicate and dreamy beauty to a space of music and sounds that impact emotions more than imagination.
Doubt
Opening the second side, "Doubt" – I would have sworn it was part of some symphonic concert by Metallica, waiting until the end for James Hetfield's vocals to enter. It is a very richly instrumental composition, also the longest, immediately followed by the shortest track.
The titular "Magnolia" is the essence of beauty. The track lasts one minute and six seconds. It is sublime and delicate, yet ephemeral, just like beauty. Even if a painting is hundreds of years old, we cannot look at it continuously. We need to learn to live in a way that we can capture beauty. Not to lose those brief moments that are really worth living for.
For me, the greatest pleasure on this album, besides listening to Dębicz's piano, is immersing myself in the sounds of Konrad Gołda's French horn. It is a rarely encountered instrument in my musical world, but I like it very much. Its timbre reminds me a bit of the nostalgic trumpet of Kwinto (Jan Machulski) from the aforementioned film "Vabank".
As we approach the album's finale, the penultimate track "The Garden Of Curiosities" is a wonderful, enchanting piece. Listening to these sounds, this unusual stroll, or even a ride, I have the opportunity to sit through many musical lands. This is a track where we find almost the entire instrumentarium on the album. After these curiosities end, the space suddenly empties, and the stage is left to the piano.
Epilogue
"Epilogue" is the track closing the album, it could be said to be a preview of the coming autumn, when the garden begins to slowly lose its vibrant colors. This is just a preview, as the entire album is in bloom.
I am immensely impressed by the music composed by Dębicz, I fell in love with these sounds from the first listening. Though – I must be honest – as soon as I saw the cover, I had a premonition that I would fall in love!
I highly recommend this album to all lovers of acoustic, cinematic, visual, strong, and artistically uplifting music. An excellent album for long, summer evenings with rosé and soda water!
Participants:
ALEKSANDER DĘBICZ: keyboards, drums, grand piano (1, 4, 6, 10, 11), upright piano (2, 5, 9), Moog Subsequent 25 (2, 4–8), Yamaha Reface CP (3)
MICHAŁ ŻAK: wooden flute (3, 8, 10)
KONRAD GOŁDA: horn (1, 2, 4, 6–10)
ŁUKASZ KUROPACZEWSKI: guitar (4, 7, 8, 10)
JAKUB JÓZEF ORLIŃSKI: countertenor (4, 8)
MARCIN ZDUNIK: cello (2, 8, 10)
HERBIE (dog): sound effects (5)
TOTAL TIME: 39:35
Details:
Music composed and produced by ALEKSANDER DĘBICZ
Recorded: II-III.2023, home studio of ALEKSANDER DĘBICZ, except for grand piano parts and "Where Flowers Bloom", which were recorded at the New Concert Hall of the State Music School Complex No. 1 in Warsaw.
Executive producer: ALAIN LANCERON.
Home recording: ALEKSANDER DĘBICZ.
Recording, mixing, and mastering engineer: MATEUSZ BANASIAK.
Publisher: ALEKSANDER DĘBICZ (ZAiKS).
Photography and graphic design: HONORATA KARAPUDA.
Floral art: GABRIELA WILCZYŃSKA.
Video projections: KAMIL CZAPIGA – cosmodernism.com.
Layout and editorial: WLP LONDON LTD.
Warner Classics release. © & ℗ 2024 Parlophone Records Limited.
