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A Waste Land Companion

by Boris Rogowski

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Jan Björk
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1.
Dear Jessie (For Jessie Laidlay Weston) 02:33
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2.
The Hyacinth Girl 03:12
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3.
Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna London Unreal 01:22
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4.
A Wicked Pack Of Cards 03:42
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5.
Unreal City II 01:43
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6.
Universe on a Shoestring 02:14
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about

A Waste Land Companion is, as its title implies, an addendum to Boris Rogowski‘s album The Waste Land which was released in February 2023 on piano and coffee records. A meditation on the infamous eponymous 1922 poem by T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land traces its psychological journey through a barren world in search of life- giving water as well as its physical journey through London on the zenith of Modernism.

During the recording sessions for the album—whose sound is characterised by the interplay between a string quartet, flute and a collection of specifically created, deeply warped and tape-weathered samples—over 20 pieces were recorded. Rogowski had originally intended to use all of them in chronological order, beginning with the famous part about April being the „cruellest month“. However, it turned out that a shorter playlist and a strictly musical order worked better for the album. Rogowski decided to focus on the string-centred pieces to give the album a dream-like, hypnotic pull. However, as he valued the shorter, piano-based pieces just as much, the idea for a companion (mini) album was born almost immediately.

It was a most sensible decision: Chamber gems like The Hyacinth Girl and A Wicked Pack of Cards, mixing English folklore with nods to Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, might have gotten lost between the dark, monolithic soundscapes of the album. Here, however, framed by works for solo piano and harmonium, they are allowed to shine. A Waste Land Companion begins and ends with two piano pieces only loosely connected to T.S. Eliot’s poem: Dear Jessie (to Jessie Laidlay Weston) is an ethereal miniature in reverence of the brilliant English medievalist whose book From Ritual to Romance, a historical examination of the King Arthur legend, greatly influenced Eliot while working on The Waste Land. Universe on a shoestring is even serener, a kind of exhalation after a long and arduous journey. It was the last piece Rogowski composed during his concluding writing session in the mountains of the island of La Palma. Here, close to the GTC, the world’s largest optical telescope, the universe seemed closer than anywhere else on earth—and the grim world of The Waste Land already a distant memory.

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released November 17, 2023

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piano and coffee records Düsseldorf, Germany

A relevant spot for artists from all over the world who cross the borders between ambient, electronic, and contemporary classical music.

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