Naphta - Żałość (2022)

Żałość (Polish for “grief”) is a direct follow up to Naphta’s breakthrough EP Dom strawiło from 2020. Featuring Mala Herba, Vienna-based Polish singer and musician on three tracks, it’s an emotional weave of tradition and spiritual sound expressions.

"People of our lands have felt grief for centuries. Squeezed between the quarries of history, oppressed by serfdom and wild capitalism, devoid of voice and influence over own fate, and regularly uprooted... We're surrounded by greed that destroys nature in the hustle and bustle of clever words that are meant to undermine the true history, culture and experience of this land." - says Naphta.

It’s no wonder then that Żałość is so permeated by melancholy. These are mournful songs for the world we’re losing everyday. But where there’s sadness, there must also be joy -that’s the eternal pursuit of existential balance. The album is taking inspiration from eastern Polesie, Radomskie and Kozła regions in Greater Poland and its spiritual line is marked by traditional, maddening dance music, where oberek blends with the apocalyptic rhythm of dubstep.

There used to be a saying that musicians fraternise with the devil, and their instruments can carry mysterious forces. Today, many mysteries have been unravelled, and we seem to understand more of the world. And yet, we still do not realise how great the value of our surroundings is, contained in the beauty and miracle of nature, or in the support of the local community. Not all is lost, but we have less and less to save each day. And that's what Żałość is about.

Naphta is an alias of Paweł Klimczak, musician and journalist whose controversial stylistical shift to folk-inspired electronic music has sparked much interest and discussions about the contemporary music scene in Poland. He’s the finalist of Nowa Tradycja contest organised by the Polish Radio. His 2020 EP Dom strawiło was also recognised by the Virtual Gusle contest.