Label: Sublime Retreat

ポーランドのレーベルZoharumに多くの音源を残している、主にアンビエンスを取り込んだ実験的音作りに勤しむLukasz SzaankiewiczのソロプロジェクトZenial。持続音4作品のみで纏め上げたソロアルバム[Lancelot's Delusions]。雨音や火が燃える音といった単調なフィールドレコーディングを電子音に埋め込んだ、非常にシンプルな作りが故の独特のアンビエンスが心地良い高内容。ヒスノイズやローファイ特有のザラザラとした質感は皆無、全編緻密な作り込みに徹底しています。





- Glass-mastered CD in 6-panel matte laminated sleeve.
- 8-page booklet

I like the way these four long strange drones sort of amount to a “concept” album describing a dream-state, or a long journey…or even the deluded state of a medieval knight, hinting at a semi-story idea which is used as a metaphor here. But the record wasn’t necessarily conceived as one whole thing, nor indeed was it recorded or performed that way.
...
We have to repeat that “Lancelot” is a metaphor, but I can’t help perceiving a latter-day Don Quixote in this sonic murk, one who is far less forthright than the literary original, less convinced by his own half-remembered moral code, and one who is – like many of us – too easily distracted by the many forces at play in the modern world. If there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s simply that we all end up lost, unsure what we’re doing in life. This particular piece attains more focus as it develops – the field recordings drop away, the electronic tones become simpler, as if suggesting there is more resolution awaiting us at the end of the journey; but in reality, there isn’t, and life has no simple explanations to offer us."

Vital Weekly 1314:

"Also four pieces can be found on the CD by Zenial, the music project of Lukasz Szaankiewicz. he is also no stranger to these pages. His work is more in the field of electronic music, coupled with a few field recordings. In 'Orion+', these field recordings are heard best, rain and fire sound embedded in slow-moving washes of synthesizer music. Throughout the music of Zenial connects more to the world of ambient music, the synthesizer variation. Say, Tangerine Dream without the bouncing arpeggio, or Brian Eno. Well, or tons of others in this field. Zenial likes the long and slow form of music, with slowly repeating tones, intertwining closely and drifting apart. Changes take place on an equally minimal level and seem to deal with mostly altering the colour of the sounds. This music doesn't have that gritty darkness of all things lo-fi. There are no hissy and scratchy tapes or small synthesizers; Zenial deals in good quality music production. With its dense, cold and clouded days, the time of the year forms the perfect setting for this kind of music. Do nothing, stare outside your window and play this as the soundtrack for such a day. If it wasn't as cold, I would dig out my CD walkman and take a sixty-six-minute walk, playing this music. Well, perhaps if I wasn't as lazy either. (FdW)"