Waiting for the Answer by Gothenburg-based Polish producer Krzysztof Zimmermann blends instrumental passages with field recordings and electronic tinkerings. The field recordings act as a base around which Zimmermann adds piano and sundry extraneous elements, static, grit, granular hiss, creating abstract collages of subdued sound.
The album’s finest moments are the location recordings, Gypsy buskers in ‘Street Crush’, Taiwanese temple ambiance in ‘Who Answers – Errs’, and airport announcement din, something I’m a dead sucker for, in ‘Departure 1’. Other spaces include train stations, tram journeys, harbours and shopping malls. The crackly haze and effects Zimmermann introduces throughout, particularly the glitchy accordian wheeze in ‘Who Asks Doth Err’, are intriguing, but the empty piano doodles add nothing to the source material.
Joshua Meggitt
