Petioles by Ola Szmidt

For this song, I challenged myself to use a looper and incorporate Teenage Engineering OP1 in symbiosis with Moog Mother and Moog Subharmonicon. In my mind: my voice and instruments created petioles.

In botany, the petiole is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem and can twist the leaf to face the sun.

Connecting all the feelings and words for this song to express and define my heart in 3 minutes 33 seconds became my petiole. I twist my heart to you all listening.

Working on this song has taken the walls down within the songwriting process for me. It opened a portal to expressing myself with total trust and flow, where I allow sound to take me, and what I want to say pours out with no pressure from anyone or anything. It is a particular song to me. It sets a clear direction for the LP to come. It is my therapy.

This is also the first time I address and sing about my eye disease, gently letting go of the pain that has caused me every day since I was born. The art cover represents double vision, as this is how I sometimes experience the world. I chose to live looping and looper as a technique many years ago because It helped me to create with eyes closed most of the time so that I could rest them as much as possible. My eyes get quickly tired, and I have a limit on how long I can read and spend time in front of the screens so my vision does not drastically worsen. It took me so many years to accept this song.

Szukam na stole morza oczu
Może nie widzę, a czuję wszystko

On a table, I am searching for a sea of eyes
Maybe I can't see, but I feel everything

Vocalist and composer specialising in live looping experimentation.

Multi Modal Body and Sound Therapist.

Funded by Arts Council England and has been mentored by FourTet

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