Interview with Maciej Staniecki published in Anxious (2004)

Maciej Staniecki, a persona from the music world that I did not know at all a year ago, today impresses me with his beautiful sounds at every step. The first meeting with Maciek is an excellent, official NEMEZIS album debut - "Whispers from behind the window", on the occasion of which I poured "ahhs""ohhhs" in the press and a in a lot of the 'zero-one' space. Maciej, the man whom the main pillar of NEMEZIS trusted in 100%, started to arouse my curiosity every day, with every traced sign of presence in the world of music. Dry notes were not enough for me, but this was about participation in the Roza Van Der Blaast, about the presence and creation of film tracks etc. One day I personally spoke to Staniecki and met a nice, kind, open and very sensitive man. A man who, despite the deformed, unnatural reality that surrounds us, decided to follow his own path of Will - and its name is Sound. Modestly, but beautifully released by Requiem, the album "Travels and Movies" appears in the world. My infatuation had reached its next stage. Beautiful, tender, soothing songs, hugging you for a dream journey. The world of unreal appears on this album, an environment filled with ambient presence appears. Staniecki creates an atmosphere of sonic unreal, detachment from the everyday world. The artist, using a harmonic guitar, bass and synthesizer, assembled a forty-minute suite that soothes, awakens, and moves our imaginations into the unknown. Music that opens well-known gates, but subjected to Staniecki's spells, takes on a new dimension - beyond the axis of materialism and illusions of the world outside the window. I recommend this trip in order to gain strength for tomorrow and experience a wonderful adventure in the ambient world of the ego.

_{Artur Mieczkowski}

Hello Maciek. I admit, so far I haven't met your persona too often in the music world, and it seems you have a rich past.

I am not particularly social and I associated the world of musicians more with idle discussions than with music. Also, when I decided to start making music, I had nothing to offer. The only possible way for me was to buy the equipment and prove (above all) that I have something to say. The first few years were just work and looking for your place, and the last year, collecting the effects of this work.

Let’s start from the beginning - 1996 is the year of the first recordings. Where did the inspiration come from? The music that is created is like minimalistic seeds.

The main inspiration in music is to convey the moods that accompanied me during the changes that took place in me some time ago. An important element was to get in touch with nature. Opening up to its mysticism, beauty, unshakable duration. It's not about landscapes. Just one year (earlier than 1996) I suddenly began to experience special feelings when dealing with dusk, at night, a fire by the river. I felt part of the whole. It was accompanied by an evolution in dealing with my two friends. Back then, music was an attempt to perpetuate those states. I think I am lucky because I managed to achieve direct expression. Straight from within. I tried not to compare, not to imitate, not to judge, but to dare to bring out what was inside me. Just such and no other sounds. Although sometimes I was overwhelmed by the thought of that I can over-discover or embarrass myself.

1996 seems to be a lucky year for you - you join the Róża Van Der Blaast Theater. How did this happen?

At the moment, it is hard for me to believe it myself, but I decided to quit my job in order to take up music entirely. I don't know why there was so much determination, but I know it was one of the best decisions in life. Fate (and likewise favors those who follow their voices) caused that I met the head of the theater in Łódź (Róża Van Der Blaast Theater), to whom I confided my decision. He asked for a music cassette. These were early, modest ideas recorded on a regular cassette with a guitar and a reverb camera. Darek said that such music suited his theater and that is how it started.

Can you identify the specifics of this theater?

It is a theater of movement and dance. We were mainly guided by intuition, creating a mood. We avoided transmitting specific content.

You made music for three performances in three years. What areas of music did you penetrate on these paths?

The music was created in cooperation with Darek. Most of the time, I brought ideas that either stayed, dropped off, or evolved. Of course, there were many tensions. Both Darek and I are very ambitious and not willing to give in. It's hard for me to define a style, I've never been good at it. It was probably partly ambient. It's just that I mainly use a guitar with a harmonizer and I tend to mix simple guitar motifs, which I don't think is ambient anymore. In addition, sometimes you had to animate the scene with something dynamic. We tried to keep it fresh, one of a kind and in my opinion it worked.

Probably creating sound for performances is a very specific job. How was / is it for you? First, the script, the director's suggestions? Are you coming to rehearsals? Do you bring a ready-made path and only then do the discussions with stakeholders begin?

I got very close to the theater. I became a member and regularly attended rehearsals. In most cases, we started with music that was supposed to inspire actors to move. The music worked or it didn't. A lot of pieces that I thought were very good were falling off. Then there were Darek's lyrics spoken by actors on stage or off. Usually we sat down (those who were not involved in the scene) and watched what was happening. Either something happened or it didn't, i.e. we tried to get inspired by the composition of the music and the movement ourselves, and then we polished it for weeks. We met three times a week.

Sławek Pietrzak from the SP Rec became interested in your work. It seems that there were plans to publish the material "To co nieokreślone" ("What’s undefined") - is there any chance for a successful conclusion of the case?

Probably not.

That’s a pity. Tell me a little about the album "Play" you have been invited to create - what areas of music are you exploring?

A bit distant, actually. It's just a song, but I liked that there was a lot of flavor that is rarely seen in most productions. My task was to decorate it with some sound ideas. Probably not much of it was left on the album itself, most of it appeared in remixes. I say "I think", because Sławek hasn't sent me the album yet and I haven't been visiting record stores lately.

You also collaborated with Maciek Werk (Hedone) - what did you manage to create together?

A dozen ideas for his latest album, but it's still a lot of work. And I'm not the only one taking part in it. I think that interesting material is being prepared, because Maciek is a man who has something to say. Besides, I learned a lot from him. First of all, o got more courageous to use instruments.

The cooperation with Łukasz Pawlak, as you say yourself, is one of the most important things in your life - or only because of the wonderful "Whispers from behind the window" released by Vivo Rec.?

First of all, we thank you with Łukasz for the compliment. Of course, this album made us very connected. It was a surprise for both of us, probably also for Janusz (Vivo). I did not plan to get involved in this album and Łukasz probably did not expect such an interference. Initially, I was only supposed to produce this album. Łukasz sent me some introductory material and I felt very strongly what was missing and what should be thrown away. Music connected us, but perhaps even more important is the friendship that emerged over time (we met on the Internet a year and a half ago, we had the first telephone conversation at the beginning of work on the album and the first time we saw each other during its pressing). The age difference between us is 10 years but probably neither of us feels it. Łukasz is an exceptional man. Very talented, hardworking, warm and sensitive. I call it the decaying species.

You are preparing another album. What can one expect after the "gentle" Staniecki and the "stronger" Pawlak in the second edition?

These are ideas inside the head for now. We're both busy right now. I leave the concepts mainly to Łukasz. I liked tidying up his spontaneous ideas.

Łukasz also publishes a collection of your oldest works called "Travels and films". Could you reminisce?

Oh, I would need several pages. Although the title is a bit made up. These are not recordings of impressions from travel or watched films, but indeed it is a summary of a certain period in which I traveled a bit and watching movies suddenly became more important.

Besides, big successes when it comes to films, I mean "Paradox Lake" (www.paradoxlake.com) by Przemek Reut. The film got to Berlin and Sundance ....

It is a very important event for me, i.e. making this music, working with Przemek, working on putting together the whole sound and the general consequences of making a film. I am very grateful to Przemek for that and I know that he also appreciates what I have done. This film is a successful attempt to penetrate the world of autistic children, shot in the States (Przemek lived there for 10 years), but the entire post-production took place in Poland. The simple techniques with which he did it will not fit the mind of most filmmakers. When you have an idea and know what you want, you can do it using the simplest tools. I had the pleasure to go to the festival in Berlin and watch the film being received very well. It gave me great satisfaction that a lot of people appreciated the participation of music. It is a pity that all this goes unnoticed in Poland.

Besides, you create music for two film etudes by students of the Lodz Film School. What direction did you decide on musically this time?

Actually, there is nothing to talk about. In general, this cooperation did not work out for me, i.e. each time they were people who expected me to include almost all possible moods in a 7-minute etude. Maybe because the films themselves were not readable. The end result was that the music was starting to dominate, which the directors couldn't agree to, so it had to be cut until the music was left with unreadable scraps.

What is the difference between creating for theater and film?

I can't answer what it looks like in general. In my case, the difference was that in the film I was working with the finished image and the music is more closely related to what is happening. There are accents related to a specific movement. In the theater, in the end, the actors had to adapt to what is already coming from the speakers, but these are technical matters. Recently, when creating music for a picture (in various forms), I always work in the same way. At first I just think, I wonder what the music should be like, then I register the first sounds - ideas (usually 2-3 times more than necessary) trying to achieve the set mood. After some time, I listen to it and evaluate what makes sense and what doesn't. Then I just expand it.

You don't need great intuition and guesswork to ask about Staniecki's music hidden in a drawer - what about it and when will the rest of the world hear it?

I have a lot of different, more or less finished ideas. This is the result of several years of work on the need to create itself, but I need a stimulus to create a collection and I am still waiting for the release of the album that Sławek Pietrzak was interested in earlier. It is a very good, consistent material. I've heard a couple of times that this is the best thing I've done. Unfortunately, lately I create less and less spontaneously for my own pleasure, because I am constantly doing something for a specific occasion. On the one hand, I suffer because of it, because I like to feel freedom in what I do, on the other hand, I enjoy my work, which forces me to keep my music in check, it gives me the feeling of being a professional.

I wish you all the best and thank you for the interview.

Thank you very much too.

Tracklist

01. Człowiek malarz
02. Okno w okno
03. Pod powiekami
04. Pan klasyk
05. Do przodu do tyłu
06. Koto
07. To co ukryte
08. Febellusz
09. Jasna noc nadrzeczna
10. Fryszerka
11. Sen pana Z