Green ZOO: Molly Nilsson (SE) + Sean Nicholas Savage (CA) + Skiing (US)

Molly Nilsson - IMAGINATIONS:

To, że żyjemy w zmieniającym się świecie nie podlega dyskusji. Od wydania w 2015 roku albumu Zenith, zamieszkała w Berlinie Molly Nilsson oddała się podróżowaniu po świecie, od Meksyku po Glasgow, obserwując zmieniający się społeczno-polityczny krajobraz i wyobrażając sobie lepszy świat. Jak przystało na artystkę która nie bez sukcesu stworzyła swoją własną opowieść i zaprosiła do niej innych, jej 8smy album studyjny, Imaginations, zastaje Molly bezpośrednio angażującą się w otaczający ją świat, (engendering) zmianę i pozwalającą sobie na jej pokochanie. Imaginations bardzo ambitnie przewartościowuje, głośny, stadionowy pop na swój własny wewnętrzny język pasujący do intymnego solowego wykonania. Imaginations to jednak nie eskapizm, bardziej kalejdoskop pozwalający na inne spojrzenie i zapowiedź zmiany.

Opener Tender Surrender encapsulates Imaginations, a tango on the ruins of the past, like many of Nilsson’s best songs a collision between the political and personal. Though potentially a love song, there’s a glowing anger in the lines “I want your ruin, I want destruction, I won’t be through until we mend this…” this is rapturous transformation, order and chaos. Molly has built an almost 10 year career on perfectly summing up how we feel and this is no different… Who else could write a song about privilege (Let’s Talk About Privileges) and make a heart-rending chorus of “It’s never being afraid of the police, it’s expecting every thank you, every please.” The artist’s vision on this album is perhaps more forceful than the emotionally fragile moments of previous album Zenith, at times exemplified on songs like Memory Foam, a bright, driving pop song that belies themes of nostalgia and the past, reminding us that Molly alone can make us feel so welcome in loneliness. If there’s overt anger in songs like Money Never Sleeps, an anthem for a postcapitalist utopia if ever there was one, there’s also seams of optimism sewn into the album’s genetic code. Any revolutionary will tell you that anger alone achieves nothing - Nilsson’s mission on Imaginations is to offer some alternatives we can hold close. Not Today Satan is a song about accepting love as the agent of change; “Don’t be sad, but do get mad at all the small men who act so tall, in the end they always fall; there ain’t no sin in giving in to love, that’s just how we’re winning the fight.” Love can be visceral, a weapon with which to fight the power.

Molly w ramach swojego wewnętrznego monologu, znajduje sposoby żeby inaczej spojrzeć na świat, zmienić swoje życie i odrzucić status quo. Możemy wejść w tryb “Think Pink” i zmienić wspólnie nasze przeznaczenie. To przesłanie pełne optymizmu kiedy potrzebujemy go najbardziej. “New boys, new girls.. give me your smile and I’ll give you mine”. Żyjemy w czasach głębokich przemian, ale z takimi alchemikami jak Molly Nilsson, nigdy nie jesteśmy w tym osamotnieni.

EN:
That we live in a world changed is beyond question. Since 2015’s Zenith, Berlin-based songwriter Molly Nilsson has surrendered to the world, traveling from Mexico to Glasgow, observing the changing socio-political landscape and imagining a better world. For an artist who has so successfully created her own environment and gradually let others in, her 8th studio album, Imaginations, sees Nilsson directly engaging with her surroundings, engendering change and allowing love in. Imaginations dreams big, recasting storming, stadium-sized pop into the internal language of the solo auteur. Imaginations is not escapism, it’s a kaleidoscope and an alternative view, an agent of change.

Opener Tender Surrender encapsulates Imaginations, a tango on the ruins of the past, like many of Nilsson’s best songs a collision between the political and personal. Though potentially a love song, there’s a glowing anger in the lines “I want your ruin, I want destruction, I won’t be through until we mend this…” this is rapturous transformation, order and chaos. Molly has built an almost 10 year career on perfectly summing up how we feel and this is no different… Who else could write a song about privilege (Let’s Talk About Privileges) and make a heart-rending chorus of “It’s never being afraid of the police, it’s expecting every thank you, every please.” The artist’s vision on this album is perhaps more forceful than the emotionally fragile moments of previous album Zenith, at times exemplified on songs like Memory Foam, a bright, driving pop song that belies themes of nostalgia and the past, reminding us that Molly alone can make us feel so welcome in loneliness. If there’s overt anger in songs like Money Never Sleeps, an anthem for a postcapitalist utopia if ever there was one, there’s also seams of optimism sewn into the album’s genetic code. Any revolutionary will tell you that anger alone achieves nothing - Nilsson’s mission on Imaginations is to offer some alternatives we can hold close. Not Today Satan is a song about accepting love as the agent of change; “Don’t be sad, but do get mad at all the small men who act so tall, in the end they always fall; there ain’t no sin in giving in to love, that’s just how we’re winning the fight.” Love can be visceral, a weapon with which to fight the power.

On Imaginations Molly is recasting her interior monologue as a prism through which to see the world, a means to live differently and to reject the status quo. We can Think Pink, change our destiny together. This is an optimism about the future when we need it the most. “New boys, new girls.. give me your smile and I’ll give you mine” Clearly, we are living through a transformation but with alchemists like Molly Nilsson, we’re never alone in the process.

Sean Nicholas Savage
Sean Nicholas Savage jest jednym z najpłodniejszych kultowych kanadyjskich muzyków swojej generacji. Wypuszcza swoje melodyjne, klasycznie piękne albumy z częstotliwością jeden na rok, w ramach Montrealskiej wytwórni Arbutus Records od dobrych paru lat. Ostatnio wydany w 2016 roku album to Magnificent Fist. Nagrany w Glasgow i Berlinie, Magnificent Fist został ukazał się jako całościowa kompozycja piosenek i nagrań wideo. Wypuszczony jako niespodzianka, realizuje bliską Seanowi filozofię DIY. Nagrania uderzają swoją prostotą, czasami wpadają w abstrakcję, a ich bohaterami są zaprzyjaźnieni muzycy m.in. Molly Nilsson. Przyjaźnie muzyczne to kolejna mocna strona Seana Nicholasa Savage: Grimes, Mac DeMarco, Doldrums, Blue Hawaii czy Shlohmo – wszyscy mianują się jego uczniami, czemu dali wyraz na kompilacji coverów jego piosenek. Albumu Magnificent Fist posłuchać możecie na YouTube:
https://goo.gl/VypxLl

EN:
Sean Nicholas Savage is one of this generation's best and most prolific cult musicans. He's been releasing melodic, classically beautiful albums at a rate of roughly one-per-year with Montreal independent label Arbutus Records for a good few years now, with his latest collection of songs being titled Magnificent Fist. Recorded in Glasgow and Berlin, new record Magnificent Fist was given a special, all-at-once release. And, like a lot of surprise releases, this one comes with its own visual component too – although this is significantly more
DIY than, say, the latest Beyoncé record. The visuals are sometimes simple, sometimes striking, and sometimes abstract, with some featuring cameos from fellow musicians from Savage’s world. Check on YouTube: https://goo.gl/VypxLl

Skiing
A Berlin band consisting of Everett Darling and a rotating and dramatic cast of friends, lovers, family, ex-friends, ex-lovers, future-lovers, etc... Lyrics discuss sanity, books and poetry, celestial bodies, philosophy, gay identity, immigration, political ideologies, weekend
sports, death, objects, love, and most recently sex. Skiing was started by best friends Dianna and Everett in October 2010 as an outlet for our emotions, and what we saw as a rad alternative to Berlin's soulless party scene, getting wasted at smokey bars, or sitting around on the internet cyber stalking our friends back in the states. The band was offered its first show at West Germany in January. As our show date got closer, we felt a little uncertain if we wanted to or felt it even necessary to perform. At the last minute we decided to cancel the show, as we weren´t really interested in amending our original intention of having this band as an outlet for having fun with each other. But alas, the show date loomed there, 5 days away, and our friends who hadn´t even heard us were upset that we should cancel. So, Everett´s long-time friend from Estonia, Joel (guitar, vocals) and his roommate, Francesco (drums, vocals) joined the band and within 5 days were able to dress-up 5 songs Skiing had written as a Duo over the previous 3 months. We were ready to perform. We had planned to do just this one show, but we really connected as a trio and played a fantastic show together at West Germany, and we
all wanted to continue performing.We decided to keep on as a trio, while Everett and Dianna still sussed out new songs together from time to time. Dianna moved back to the states, and the band has seen
numerous line-up changes since its inception with only Everett keeping the Skiing slopes lit at twilight. Francesco Maria Rovere (IT - Drums, Vocals), Will Gresson (NZ - Drums), Joel Alas (AU - Guitar, Vocals), Theo Rahkun (DE - Drums, Guitar), and Susanna Trotta
(IT - Accordian, Vocals), Daniel Boyle (GB-Drums, Guitar, Vocals), Philip Hucknall (Bass, Guitar, Vocals), Nadia Buyse (Drums, Vocals).

Discography:
"West Germany" E.P. 2011
"Skiing" L.P. 2012
"Holly" L.P. 2013
"Generous Fire" E.P. 2013
“Another Wave” L.P. 2016