''Kołysanki'' (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

for "Lullabies") is the fifth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by Polish band Lux Occulta. The album was released on March 13, 2014. It is the first album released by the band in 13 years, as well as the first since the ending of the band's hiatus, making it the longest gap between the band's albums.

Sound

''Kołysanki'' marks a drastic departure of the band's previous

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

sound in favor of a more experimental

electronic rock Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...

sound. A reviewer for the webzine ''

Metal Storm Metal Storm Limited was a research and development company based in Brisbane, Australia, that specialized in electronically initiated superposed load weapons technology and owned the proprietary rights to the electronic ballistics technology ...

'' described the album's opening track, "Dymy", as having a "heavy synth atmosphere, with very groovy beats and rhythms and vocals that dance between charismatic singing and interesting spoken word." He also praised the song "Samuel wraca do domu" for its "use of sax, double bass, and organ, that sounds more like a jazz piece from the early 1900s than anything else", as well as the song "Karawanem Fiat" for taking a "neoclassical approach with acoustic guitar work that would delight even the most seasoned of flamenco listeners." Thomas Bawden of ''Axis of Metal'' described the album as a "musical mindfuck", which feature "track titles in Polish and then prominently featuring electronically sampled French vocal lines", "violin melodies that could almost be described as neo-classical if they weren’t so dissonant, frequently set to a bombastic industrial backing beat", and "psychedelic guitar lines meandering back and forth amidst a nightmarish flurry of almost gypsy folk-inspired accordion lines", as well as jazz melodies that "lend the piece the atmosphere of a 1930s smoke-filled club."

Track listing

All lyrics written by Jarosław Szubrycht. All music composed by Jerzy Głód, except "Karawanem Fiat" composed by Jerzy Głód, Grzegorz Kapłon, and Piotr Szczurek.

Personnel

;Lux Occulta *Jarosław Szubrycht –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

, lyrical concept, visual concept *Jerzy Głód –

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

, musical concept, mixing, production *

Wacław Kiełtyka Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka (born 17 December 1981) is a Polish musician, best known as the guitarist of the death metal band Decapitated. In addition to Decapitated, Wacław has been the guitarist of Lux Occulta since 1998, as well as a former m ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

*Maciek Tomczyk –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

;Additional musicians *Julia Doszna – vocals *Julie Cazalas – vocals *Catherine Fornal – vocals *Łukasz Madej –

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

*Wojtek Krzak –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

*Władysław Grochot –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

*Tomasz Grochot –

cajón A cajón ( ; "box, crate, drawer") is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping the front or rear faces (generally thin plywood) with the hands, fingers, or sometimes implements such as brushes, mallets, or st ...

*Marek Tomczyk –

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

, mixing, mastering ;Production *Elżbieta Biryło – cover art *Łukasz Jaszak – graphic design *Igor Szubrycht – writing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolysanki 2014 albums Lux Occulta albums Polish-language albums 2010s French-language albums