Wound - Plasticene

Released: February 23

His first album since 2022 and the first of his releases on the newly formed Okla Records, Wound (the moniker of Bartosz Szturgiewicz) brings us a soundtrack for a future documentary with Plasticene. The world as it is, is filled with plastic. The smallest pieces of which are found pervasively throughout our modern life with little to know idea what the long-term effects of this prevalence will be. Oddly, this is much like what the album sounds like - small pieces of sound floating about in an otherwise serene ocean seemingly untouched by this foreign material. Roughly, you could say this falls squarely in the realm of ambient but it seems to do much more than that with it's peculiar arrangements.  

The album is sandwiched between two similarly themed tracks that incorporate vocal segments (sounding like news segments) giving the slightest glimpse into the problems sitting at the doorstep, each appropriately named "New Horrors" and "Old Terrors." Moving into the main part of the album,  we start with "Plasticene I" with small drones that filter in to field recordings of footsteps in the foliage and gently babbling water. This documentary feel is right on point with this track, giving an impression of walking into nature to see what damage was caused and the folly of the humans that caused it. This theme is revisited later in "Plasticene II" with much more present synth drones and an almost playful tone near the end of the track. 

Contrasting with this somewhat playful tone, "Preemptive Elegy for the Fifth Extinction" follows immediately after bringing any sense of wonder to a halt. The sorrowful chords played in pipe organ-like fashion send a somber reminder of what this new invention will bring with it. This track, playing off of the other lighter pieces, brings a certain depth to the listening experience especially with it being placed right near the end of the album. It all serves the purpose of this concept that is firmly rooted in our current and future reality - and it does so wonderfully.