Year: 2026
Label: Zoharum

You know it as soon as you look at the cover: we’re entering weird territory once again. But – how else? This is Zoharum we’re talking about, a label who specializes in the weird and unpredictable!

The decidedly surreal, psychedelic cover art, which at one moment looks vaguely cosmic and planetoidal, and at the next like a weird fetus in an equally weird womb, certainly sets the tone for Polish Maciek Szymczuk’s newest album. This is an electronic journey to some very weird places.

The promo sheet describes this as “bursting with a multitude of colors and sounds”, which is exactly right. I can’t really think of a better way to describe this album than colourful – and I don’t mean colourful as a synonym for “a bit off”. No, this is an album whose music bursts with colour. Which, I realize perfectly well, says nothing actual about the music.

I suppose a logical starting place is ambient. Gandobendy is not ambient per se, but certainly, the entirely instrumental and somewhat abstract music has a definite ambient element to it. However, firmly removing it from ambient is the rhythmic and melodic nature of the music. Percussion is in a central role here, and whilst Gandobendy doesn’t use melodies as hooks, there’s a definite conventionally melodic natue to the album.

So this is some kind of half-abstract, half-structural form of experimental, adventurous electronic music with ambient elements. But far from only that. One surprising element is dub. There’s a subtle dub element to many tracks, and a couple of tracks go all-in with reggae rhythms and the typical reverberating soundscapes of dub. And it works.

Gandobendy really is a burst of vibrant, lush colours. It’s soundscapes are full, resplendent and opulent, just like the colours on its cover image. The adventurous, weird and rich soundscapes, where there’s always a lot happening both in the front and in the background, are deeply psychedelic, evoking imageries of fantastic cosmic views. Horizons of planets with skies in unimaginable colours, the pulsing, morphing, undulating mass of colours of planets being born from a cosmic womb, the dance of celestial bodies in the cosmic ebb and flow.

When in the right mood, Gandobendy is one of those albums which reminds the listener of a simple fact: the world is actually a pretty wondrous place. Listening to it and looking up to the night sky, it’s easy to feel a sense of awe. Closing your eyes and letting the images flow makes one awe at the power of the imagination. But, on the other hand, in the wrong mood, Gandobendy can become even irritating with its odd soundscapes and sound effects.

But on the whole, Gandobendy is a fascinating album. Too musical and structural for ambient, but still oddly ambient, this is an album that manages to confuse – most of the time in a positive sense.

Visit Maciek Szymczuk on Bandcamp