MISZCZYK, the project of Nyles Miszczyk, has announced his debut album, ‘Thyrsis of Etna’ – out July 15 through We Are Time (Motorists, Chandra). The first single lifted from the album, In The Dark, features Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier. The album brings together a constellation of musicians young and old, spanning the globe, beloved by fans or yet unknown. The Ontario producer creates spellbinding backdrops for vocalists and instrumental contributors such as the aforementioned Sadier, Pylon’s Vanessa Briscoe Hay, The Space Lady, Marker Starling, Chad VanGaalen, Motorists’ Craig Fahner, Nigerian rapper, NAI and many more from the extended We Are Time family (Chandra, New Chance, Bile Sister, etc).
‘Thyrsis of Etna’ opens with In The Dark which is out now with a stunning visual component put together by artist, Jesse Yules. The track features Sadier’s hushed words, delivered with trademark hypnotic tranquillity, wrapping them around MISZCYZK’s bugged-out electronics and off-kilter percussion. The first single provides a scintillating introduction to the forthcoming world of ‘Thyrsis of Etna’ which plays through like a foggy 4am mixtape, shifting mood and texture from track to track.
After receiving the contributions from featuring artists, the studio surgery phase is where MISZCZYK was in his element. Inspired by maverick producers such as Geoff Barrow, Conny Plank, and Bruiser Brigade’s Raphy, he fused analog and electronic sources to achieve the otherworldly sounds in his head. “Process music really excites me,” says MISZCZYK. “I love getting hands-on with the medium, recording to a four-track, then overdubbing slick-sounding digital effects. Or recording a snare, dubbing it onto a cassette, and then back into my computer. I’ve even bounced vocals through a minidisc.”
Watch the video clip for In The Dark (ft. Laetitia Sadier) via YouTube below.
Speaking about the accompanying visual, director Yules explains: “For In the Dark, I was inspired by 60s design icons Mary Blair and Ray Eames. Both Blair and Eames had wonderful studios full of toys, textiles and furniture, that they felt inspired joy in the viewer. I think it’s every artist’s dream to work out of a studio as amazing as Blair or Eames, and to create work that makes the world slightly more beautiful. The animation’s narrative focuses on a designer magically manipulating the “colourful junk” in her office, and using the designs to transform her city. It was animated using the colourful junk in my own studio, with both stopmotion and digital techniques.”
During his formative years as a beatmaker, MISZCZYK’s projects included the hip-hop group Bread & Water, featuring a teenage Shad. Years later, while working as an in-house engineer at Toronto’s Royal Mountain Records, MISZCZYK produced hyperactive indie rock band Hollerado, legendary proto-punks Simply Saucer, and garage rock hero Mark “BBQ” Sultan. Buy him a drink and he’ll tell you about the time he recorded The Pixies.
These days, MISZCZYK has switched his focus to teaching university sound design courses, while performing as the bassist with New York post-punk icon CHANDRA. His fingerprints can be found on countless releases, yet nothing could have anticipated ‘Thyrsis of Etna,’ featuring artists as far-flung as France, Nigeria, and Athens, Georgia. “I was excited to work with people from all walks of life, all over the world,” says MISZCZYK. “With the connectivity that we have now, this album feels like a global village.”
‘Thyrsis of Etna’ track listing
1. In The Dark (ft. Laetitia Sadier)
2. Bad Ride (ft. Chandra Oppenheim)
3. Runaway, I Age (ft. NAI)
4. The Garden (ft. Vanessa Briscoe Hay)
5. Automatic Shock (ft. Joseph Brooks Organ)
6. Led Astray (ft. Jeremy Singer)
7. The Doorway (ft. New Chance)
8. The Leaves (ft. Marker Starling)
9. On Zuma Beach (ft. Corey Hernden)
10. Nautilus (ft. Brodie Murdoch)
11. Immediate Needs (ft. Simon Oates)
12. Lunar Days (ft. Craig Fahner)
13. Pantin (ft. Allumette)
14. The Ecstatic Dance (ft. Bile Sister)
15. New for Old (ft. Colin Lloyd Tucker)
16. End Credits (ft. The Space Lady)
Pre-order ‘Thyrsis of Etna’ here
C'mon why don't you leave a comment here