The first album of the Tricity-based Ścianka is one of the most astonishing debuts in the history of Polish rock. “Statek Kosmiczny” (”Spacecraft”) contains more than one hour of music that is, theoretically, packed with contradictions but as soon as you turn it on, you’ll be lost in the overpowering storm of rough tones and extraordinary ideas.

Ścianka was set up in 1994 in Sopot. The band’s distinguishing feature is its uncompromising  individualism. When most of Polish bands either follow the trends or play the same old stuff, the group led by Maciek Cieślak remains  totally unpredictable thanks to changing its stylistics, method of production and line-up. Before releasing its debut, Ścianka had been, wrongly, considered  as part of the jazz-influenced Tricity’s stage, whereas the band’s sound was deeply rooted in American 60’s psychedelic rock and 70’s punk. During the first years of existence, Ścianka’s line up was shaping to crystallize finally  as a four-piece band, including Cieślak’s mate – Jacek Lachowicz (keyboard), Arkady Kowalczyk (drums) and Vietnamese Tran Chi (bass). Since then Ścianka started to get some acclaim, performing in a local basement. Although the band had recorded a demo before, the first breakthrough was signing a contract with a local Biodro Records and releasing the debut.

“Statek Kosmiczny” is a dirty, raw and condensed punch in the face of Polish scene of that times. The material contained on the album despises commercial standards and conventional approaches that ruled the Polish scene. The album marries the explosive, highly  improvisational noisy jams with mellow, melodious ballads you would play in commercial media. The album’s highlights are krautrock-influenced “Trans-Atlantyk”, purely experimental and a bit pastiche mixture of noise rock with a traditional Polish tune “Czerwone Kozaki” and the most recognizable song on the album – “Skuter”, which presents the manic side of “Statek Kosmiczny” in a nutshell. The mellower and softer character of the album is represented by the instrumental, reflective “Sopot” and “Sopot II” and moving ballad “Piórko”. In this case the outcome of such a mixture is not unpleasantly eclectic but perfectly balanced material, listening of which is not exhausting, despite its intellectual character. Even though the album might be considered as home-recorded, it’s full of interesting (sometimes even surprising) details that make listening to this recording even more unique. Nevertheless, revealing them I’d only spoil the fun.

Due to its short series “Statek Kosmiczny” had been unavailable to buy for years. Fortunately it has been recently remastered and is accessible again. This is, sadly, not the case with Ścianka’s second album, but that’s a totally different story.

Recommended if you like: the Stooges, Sonic Youth, Captain Beefheart, Velvet Underground, Can