Kowalski Room

Drifting and Phasing - an Ambient Introduction to Kowalski Room

An introduction to the experimental ambient music of Kowalski Room.

Over the past few years, I have been exploring minimalism. My music tends to sound expansive. I've been looking at ways to use less ingredients in music and just how little I can use to still create an interesting and pleasing piece of music.

In the summer of 2017, I begin experimenting with phasing, a technique used by Steve Reich in his piece 'It's Gonna Rain'. I don't have access to two reel to reel tapes recorders so my experiments were purely digital and used a range of techniques similar but not quite the same of Steve Reich.

I start with a short clip - music, field recordings or found sounds - and loop it. It is usually something quite simple but with some interesting colours. I play a second loop of the same thing over the top but slightly out of sync. The two layers of the same sound then interact and create new atmospheres, rhythms and motifs. I find it mesmerising. It means that a short clip, sometimes only a few seconds in length, can become a very long piece of experimental ambient music.

At first, I did not reveal who was making this music. I felt my identity might come with a lot of preconceptions about what the music should be. While most of this is ambient, some is much more experimental - looping barely heard conversations, layers of a delivery truck reversing or the sound of water rolling along the side of a lake. I wanted to be free to experiment.

Now that I feel like Kowalski Room has its own identity, I am happy to reveal who is squirreling away, making this music.

I'm really proud of this project. It is the kind of music I need to create. I hope you enjoy it too. There is plenty more to come.