Tides From Nebula: Postcards Of A Soundscape

Polish post-rockers TIDES FROM NEBULA will be embarking on a huge European tour next month to coincide with the release of their stunning new album From Voodoo To Zen. Guitarist and keyboardist Maciej Karbowski sounds relaxed after a day of signing the vinyl copies of the album the band had received earlier. He begins to talk about the band’s new chapter. “We’re down to a three piece now” he comments, on the departure of bassist Przemek Węgłowski. “Przemek is really tall and was in the middle [of the stage] so things will look different now at a show, the middle will be empty.” What TIDES FROM NEBULA lack in line-up, they make up for with a stunning sound and an incredible light show.

Another change in the TIDE FROM NEBULA camp is the more electronic direction of their music. Compared to their last album Safehaven in 2016, From Voodoo To Zen boasts more sonic elements and electronic motifs than hard-hitting riffs. Karbowski expresses it happened naturally, “It wasn’t intentional we just did it. It ended up being electronic music played by a rock and roll band I guess.” He continues, “Safehaven might be a rough sounding album, but in a good way. The new album is, for me, more British sounding.” When asked what he means by ‘British sounding’ Karbowski explains, “I mean frequency wise, it’s more mid-range.” He later adds with a laugh, “I’m a recording engineer, I’m just nerdy”. It is satisfying to hear a musician speak passionately about the music he creates.

Their approach to recording From Voodoo To Zen was a little different this time round as the band changed their working environment. “We worked in our old studio and wrote the album there. We were jamming, rehearsing or just sitting in the control room, throwing ideas around.” Karbowski says changing their working style was the biggest factor when writing the record. The setting also proved useful when testing their sound, “It’s a good test because when you’re playing a huge wall of sound live it can be tricky to capture because it’s so loud and so powerful when recording it for the album.” The band would then listen back to the recording on a low volume to gauge if it sounded impressive enough to include on the album. Sometimes TIDES FROM NEBULA would leave the material for months before they reworked it to make it perfect.

Last year the band released a double A side single to mark their tenth anniversary as a band, “It’s a funny story actually…One was a new song which will be on the new album [Dopamine] and the other was a song which was ten years old [Paratyphoid Fever].” Reading the comments from fans, Karbowski was amused to find fans preferred the older song which was more the old TIDES FROM NEBULA style. “We’ve been there and done that but the new singles we released this year [Ghost Horses and The New Delta] have had really positive comments.” Confessing the band were worried about the response for the new heavy-synth material, they’re pleased with the feedback “I guess people who listen to our music are pretty open minded.”

In recent years post-rock seems to have fallen under the progressive umbrella due to the genre’s innovative bands. Karbowski recognises this and breaks down post-rock into three waves; “When we started in 2008 there were like, ten bands, some of those were from the 90s, like MOGWAI or SIGUR ROS. Then you have the second wave like GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT, CASPIAN or RUSSIAN CIRCLES. All these bands are still playing. I think this is the last wave which matters still.” Nowadays he questions if bands only focus on the ‘sound’ of the genre; “If you pause the delay of that sound, there’s nothing underneath. There’s no real music.” Karbowski stresses there are still many cool bands out there from the genre. After playing shows with hundreds of post-rock and progressive bands around the world, it’s no surprise he’s heard his fair share of groups who lack substance.

Post-rock has always been loved for its strong, emotional response it triggers in listeners. Karbowski reflects on the mood of From Voodoo To Zen as a whole and compares it to the connotations of the album title itself; “It starts with a really powerful track and it slowly transforms into darker and more serious stuff I guess.” However, he would not dare to dictate what response he hopes listeners would have when listening to From Voodoo To Zen. Instead, Karbowski shares his belief that a person’s favourite album is mostly connected to their memories they have of the time they were listening to that record. “When you’re listening to your favourite album, it becomes your memory, like a postcard, something personal. I would love to be aware that something like that happened with our new album.”

Here in the UK when most people think of Polish bands they’ll think of DECAPITATED or RIVERSIDE, is there a Polish post-rock scene?

Maciej: When we started out there were three [post-rock] bands. It’s a bad situation because it’s a niche, the progressive stuff and the post-rock stuff. We’ve been lucky that we’ve been the first band to get a decent crowd around Poland. We’re friends with quite a few groups. I produced one four years ago and we’re good friends with a band from Gdansk. So, we know each other but there are so many now I can’t remember them all [laughs].

What can people expect from a TIDES FROM NEBULA show?

Maciej: We really care about the lighting of a show. Sound is the first thing we care about but for many years we’ve brought our own small production. It’s going to look cool! I think things are going to be different than other tours because we’re down to a three piece now. Less people and a lot of lights. More like an electronics show, than a metal/rock show. But it’s going to be fun and well-sounding too. We’ll do our best to make everyone feel better.

Anywhere in particular you’re really looking forward to playing?

Maciej: We always like Berlin, London, the biggest cities for the non-festival shows. I have no expectations because sometimes the smaller shows are the best ones, the atmosphere is awesome. There are also some festivals on this run. It’s fun to have a big audience but it’s also a pain in the ass [laughs] because there’s no sound check. It’s a real stress with changeovers and doing everything really fast. It’s always worth it at the end of the day though.

The album title From Voodoo To Zen sounds like it’s about opposites. What is the title about?

Maciej: The album title itself is a lyric by ST. VINCENT. She had an album two years ago, Masseduction with a song called Pills. There’s a lyric, “From guru to voodoo and voodoo to zen”. It was about the fact people are taking pills to instantly get the mood they need. If they want to go to sleep they’ll take a pill to feel sleepy. They’ll take another pill to wake up, and so on. If you just picked out the ‘from voodoo to zen’ part only, it gets more universal and bigger. It’s cool that everyone has their own questions about it. Is it about finding calm? Is it a religious point of view? For me personally it’s connected to the song and about this simulation era we live in. We constantly use these small boxes [mobile phone]. People don’t get bored anymore. When I think of it more in a dark way, I don’t like it. I don’t think it’s because I’m getting older, I think more people are noticing it’s bad.

You’re saying about how times are changing. TIDES FROM NEBULA have been a band since 2008, how have things changed since you started out?

Maciej: We learnt how to use social media as a band because it helps us as a group. The major thing that has really changed is the streaming stuff. When we started, MySpace was dying and LastFM was still there. There was still a question mark about what was going to be the next big thing for the music industry. Some bands don’t even release physical albums anymore. Something cool which has happened recently is the return of LPs. Vinyl could last a hundred years so it’s a good way to put it to the archive.

From Voodoo To Zen is out now via Long Branch Records. 

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