\u2018Stay Calm\u2019 is the new album release by Polish jazz quartet, The Beat Freaks. Initially founded in 2014 by bandleader and guitarist Micha\u0142 Starkiewicz who would go on to recruit members including bassist Pawe\u0142 Grzesiuk, drummer Radek Wo\u015bko and tenor saxophonist Tomasz Licak, the band\u2019s warmly received debut record followed in 2016. Finding its home on the Danish label and distribution company Gateway Music in October 2016, \u2018Leon\u2019 gave birth to, not only the band\u2019s debut recording but also to the life of Leon Kokakiewicz \u2013 albeit an entirely fictional character, Leon Kokakiewicz\u2019s idealistic and pioneering successes found themselves the subject of The Beat Freaks\u2019 compositions and lovingly explored over the course of the album\u2019s nine tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But from seeking inspiration from the life and times of (the fictitious) Leon Kokakiewicz for \u2018Leon\u2019, three years later the collective opt to seek their inspiration now from\u2026 wait for it\u2026 Charles Babbage\u2019s early 19th century innovations of an automatic mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions. As if you needed me to tell you, we are of course discussing the \u201cdifference engine\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe this was the logical next step for The Beat Freaks, maybe it wasn\u2019t, who\u2019s to say? Either way, it\u2019s pretty difficult to argue with the results wherever Starkiewicz and company opt to seek their inspiration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tracklist for \u2018Stay Calm\u2019 really seems to take the theme even further however with strong connotations of the compulsory need to look forward to a bold and bright future, but perhaps still being fearful of what that future holds. Tracks like \u2018First Steps on a Lonely Planet\u2019, \u2018Memories From an old Town\u2019 and perhaps the self-referential numbers \u2018Difference Engine\u2019 and \u2018Steampunk\u2019; the latter of which in of itself calls upon the retro-futuristic science fiction fantasy element of technology and design inspired by 19th-century steam-powered machinery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s something really fascinating about the way this whole project unfolds, like the story within the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And of course, there\u2019s the music itself: \u2018Work At Heights\u2019 dictates a great pace throughout with Starkiewicz\u2019s guitar riffs, the relatively short \u2018Chasing Olivier\u2019 packs in so much energy, aided largely through Tomasz Licak\u2019s screaming saxophone, while \u2018Tree of Infinity\u2019 soars through the playfulness of its composition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As frequent live performers \u2013 having graced stages at Jazz na BOK-u 2018, the Hanza Jazz Festival in 2017, as well as Copenhagen\u2019s Christiania Jazz Club and various venues around Poland \u2013 The Beat Freaks seem to constantly thrive under the pressure of a new challenge with the stakes rising for each new project. Whether their muses lead them to fictitious personalities, innovations of mechanical calculations or the scoring of the silent movie \u2018Zamoyski\u2019, with great intrigue we wait to see what The Beat Freaks will do next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imran Mirza<\/p>\n\n\n\n