resina: s/t

Resina is the alias of Karolina Rec, a cellist/ composer based in Warsaw, who signed to 130701 having sent in this album as a hugely impressive demo late last year. A very accomplished performer with a background in Polish underground music, this eponymous album is her solo debut and sees a rich, atmospheric re-imagining of Polish music rooted in a feeling for indigenous nature / landscape and realized via an intuitive, experimental approach to playing. Her playing appears to mimic or suggest certain natural processes / locations / elements - the flocking of birds; the movement of water, clouds, light, wind; the gradual stirring of life in the forest. Track titles reiterate these themes, as does the very name Resina: the Latin form of resin, "the blood of the tree". At times recalling the landscape-rooted drone of English composer Richard Skelton, Resina's pieces feel similarly organic and evocative of nature. Their sprawling growth is awash with tonal / timbral intricacies. Her tracks shimmer and hang around the listener; slowly shift, unfurl and awaken; become increasingly active. Another reference point might be found in Werner Herzog's musician of choice, Ernst Reijseger, whose powerful cello playing is grounded in a jazz-wise investigation of non-traditional/ non-academic techniques.