Jakub Kasperkiewicz - Sunflowers

 

Released: October 13

Sunflowers is an album with a deceptively beautiful name that partially obscures the dark nature of the album. Musically, it comes across as quite melancholy. Kasperkiewicz’s plucked guitar drones feel like swirling wisps of sound circling the listener along with some rather interesting atmospheric synths that fill up additional space around the guitar. Conceptually, on the other hand, the album gives a glimpse into a dark reality that we all live with that is hinted at by titles such as “burning sky” and “castle bravo.” That is, the post-nuclear world we inhabit. 

I think with this concept in mind, the nature of some of the compositions is downright contradictory sometimes. Particularly the title track of the album, “sunflowers.” It feels like the least foreboding of all the tracks and even has this beautiful shimmering quality about it. The guitar rings out with inspiring tones, evoking scenes of tranquil deserts in the gathering dusk. It feels almost uncharacteristically celebratory considering the tracks that surround it such as “castle bravo,” a reference to the testing of the most powerful weapon the world has ever seen. But this is kind of the whole album. It has such a conflicted tone, as if we aren’t sure whether to weep or cheer or express any significant emotion. Listening to the whole thing just left me in a state of unsureness, unclear on what to feel exactly aside from that feeling you get when you come to a crossroad and don’t know which way to go. 

But I gather that this feeling is what was intended.