| Polish Night Music | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Marek Zebrowski andDavid Lynch | ||||
| Released | 2007 (2007) | |||
| Recorded | 2004 (2004)–2006 (2006) | |||
| Studio | Asymmetrical Studio(Hollywood,California, United States) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 76:47 | |||
| Label |
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| David Lynch chronology | ||||
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| Alternate cover | ||||
_-_Marek_Zebrowski_%2526_David_Lynch.jpg) 2015 deluxe-edition LP | ||||
Polish Night Music is a collaborativestudio album by thePolish–American composer Marek Zebrowski and the Americandirector and musicianDavid Lynch. It was released in 2007 on David Lynch Music Company.
Marek Zebrowski andDavid Lynch met during theInternational Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage inŁódź, Poland. Lynch originally hired Zebrowski—a Polish–American—as a Polish-language translator during the production of his 2006 feature filmInland Empire, part of which was shot in Łódź. Zebrowski and Lynch discussed the concepts ofexperimental music andfreeform improvisation and their mutual interest in both. Lynch subsequently invited Zebrowski to Asymmetrical Studio—Lynch's home recording studio inHollywood,California, United States—to collaborate on a series of musical experiments.[4]
Polish Night Music was recorded at Asymmetrical Studio in Hollywood over a two-year period between 2004 and 2006.[4] John Neff, with whom Lynch released his debut collaborative albumBlueBOB in 2001,[5]engineered half of the recording sessions and Dean Hurley engineered the remaining sessions; Hurley conducted additionalfield recordings in Poland in winter 2006. The album was edited andmixed by Hurley, Lynch and Zebrowski.[4]
The sessions forPolish Night Music were "initiated by Lynch with a narrative fragment, an image cluster intended as a sort of mental focus plane" around which Lynch and Zebrowski wouldimprovise; Lynch performed on aKorg synthesizer and Zebrowski performed on aYamaha piano.[4]
Polish Night Music features freeform improvisations composed by Zebrowski and Lynch. Zebrowski's performance has been described as adding a "formal complexity" and central musicalstructure to Lynch's "tonal fabric".[4]The Guardian describedPolish Night Music as an album "that bypasses the sounds of groaning monsters and creaking cellar doors and instead conjures fear in its eerie atmosphere."[6]
Dean Hurley referred to the album's imagery and "suggested narratives" as being about "night", "barren train stations, Polish factories" and "silent hotels where lonely travelers meet". Łódź, the city in Poland in which Lynch and Zebrowski were introduced to each other, was a central influence on the album. Zebrowski recalled that during the album's later recording sessions Lynch asked him to think about "the desolate factories of Łódź sit[ting] silent and empty" and how "only the memories of the machines remain."[4]
Polish Night Music was originally released as a limited-editionCD in 2007 on David Lynch Music Company. It was reissued as adoubleLP anddigital download on November 13, 2015 bySunday Best in Europe andSacred Bones Records in the U.S.[7] Sacred Bones also issued a deluxe edition of the double LP as 250 hand-numbered copies in a gatefold sleeve with a full-color 11-inch×11-inch insert.[8] Both Sunday Best and Sacred Bones LP reissues included a download code for a 43-minute bonuslive album,Live at the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, which features four previously unreleased tracks recorded in 2006.[7]
Lynch and Zebrowski performed together around the time ofPolish Night Music's release, showcasing an improvised set at theFondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain inParis, France, in March 2007 as part of an exhibition of Lynch's artwork called "The Air Is On Fire"; a 7-minute video of the performance was released online by Sacred Bones in 2015.[9] The two performed four years later at a concert at theUniversity of Southern California inLos Angeles on March 26, 2011;[10] a 10-minute video of the performance was released online by Sunday Best in 2015.[11]
"Polish Night Music No. 1", a track not featured onPolish Night Music, was included on thesoundtrack toInland Empire, which was released months prior to the album.[12]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| PopMatters |   [1] |
Writing forPopMatters in a seven-out-of-ten-star review, critic John Garrett referred toPolish Night Music as a "large piece of bold politeness" and a "meeting of sound and meditation that asks for nothing in return." Garrett also drew comparisons between the album's atmosphere and two of Lynch's feature films—1997'sLost Highway and 2001'sMulholland Drive—and wrote: "to say that [Polish Night Music] is a headphone album is an understatement. You need to turn up the volume after plugging in your headphones. All of the lighter-than-air bits and pieces are waiting for you to let them bounce around inside your head."[1]
All music is composed by Marek Zebrowski andDavid Lynch.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Night: City Back Street" | 13:29 |
| 2. | "Night: A Landscape with Factory" | 17:41 |
| 3. | "Night: Interiors" | 26:46 |
| 4. | "Night: A Woman on a Dark Street Corner" | 18:51 |
| Total length: | 76:47 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Night: Memories of Machines" | 14:30 |
| 2. | "Night: Unfilled Dreams" | 10:56 |
| 3. | "Night: The Great Electrical Pants Stand Like Cathedrals" | 9:51 |
| 4. | "Night: Snowfalls Through the Black Leafless Trees" | 8:21 |
| Total length: | 43:38 | |
All personnel credits adapted fromPolish Night Music's album notes.[4][8]
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