RESINA (PL)

Resina is the alias of composer Karolina Rec, a participant in Poland’s vibrant independent music scene since the late 00’s. Taking the plunge as a solo artist, Resina signed to FatCat’s pioneering 130701 imprint, with a debut album released in September 2016, and has steadily been making a name for herself through her striking, emotionally-resonant recordings and her powerful live performances. Her sophomore album ‘Traces’ was released in July 2018 to wide acclaim, with a review on Line of Best Fit calling it “thrilling and unsettling… A remarkable achievement.” The Guardian described it as “haunting,” XLR8R as “visceral, tense and thrilling” and Electronic Sound Magazine as ”an album that ultimately bastardises her instrument, but in such a way that the listener is never quite sure where it’s going. And therein lies the beauty.” An EP with remixes by Ben Frost, Ian William Craig, Lotic and Abul Mogard was released on 31st May 2019. Honed through continual experimentation and seeking out unexpected characteristics of the cello alongside the use of looping, electronics, percussion and her own voice, Resina’s musical style is distinguished by both an adventurous, personal language as well as improvisation.

In 2021 Resina returns with a first standalone album in three years, taking a big step forward on a bold and brilliantly expansive record that explores ideas about language, the voice and the unpredictability of nature. Recorded by Resina and Michał Kupicz, with striking additional mixing & production work by Daniel Rejmer (Ben Frost, Björk, Foals, Girls Names), and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri, ‘Speechless’ is fluid and muscular, with wide dynamics and a dark and powerful dramatic weight.

Removed from their regular, more refined classical contexts, cello and choir are subjected to electronic processing, expanded and deployed in a swirling, visceral sound-world, sometimes pushed into distortion and anchored alongside Mateusz Rychlicki’s driving drumming. An amalgamation of noise, rock, ambient, choral and classical elements, ‘Speechless’ shifts from gossamer beauty to glowering threat; from pulsing minimalism to full-bore propulsive blow-outs. As well as moments of great beauty, it is shot through with shrieks and howls, cavernous bass drops, sirens and sudden pitch shifts. A mysterious and deeply uncertain space is opened.

“Resina, AKA Karolina Rec, layers her cello in real time using looper pedals, mixing long drones with shimmering tremolo effects and staccato riffs, and occasionally singing in a ghostly wordless howl. The results are often haunting”  – The Guardian

“…an album that ultimately bastardises her instrument, but in such a way that the listener is never quite sure where it’s going. And therein lies the beauty. Superb!” – Electronic Sound

“Visceral, tense and thrilling”  – XLR8R

“Her music succinctly paints detailed pictures for films emerging in the minds of its listeners. It’s an extraordinary skill.”  – Echoes and Dust

“Wordless music that highlights the potential for unity in humankind as well as the danger of repeating history.” – Resident Advisor

“Extraordinary… superbly mixes cello, fast-paced drumming and choir… highly original.” – The Line Of The Best Fit 9/10

“Resina finds her voice in the music’s flair for intensity and powerful movement; perhaps the music can speak after all, and what it has to say is so powerful that it takes the breath away.” – Fluid Radio

“Across a cinematically rich and intense soundstage… we hear the urgency and a bit of curbed angst, crashing against walls of sound, like the waves against stranded cliffs.” – Headphone Commute

“Polite modern classical this sure ain’t…Eternal, infernal, should you choose to let Resina take you by the hand, she will render you speechless; be forewarned. It’ll be one of the most potent brews you’ll likely ever drink – you’ll feel its ink-purple tincture spread through your veins. “ – Backseat Mafia

“A powerhouse of an album, Speechless uses voice without words to convey a message of protest and resolve. The visceral impact is immediate, the depth cavernous, the sonic world immense: a triumph from every angle.”  – A Closer Listen

“a powerful collection of sonics that teeter on the edge of light and dark, matching elements of ambient, choral, rock, noise and classical.” – The Ransom Note

“This is alive, organic, big, something born of ambition, of an artist with a need to challenge. This is painterly, big reds, bold strokes, delicate details, dark tones, thickly wooded, lines that lead you down different paths.”  – Organ Thing