#electronicjazz

A nine-year project arrives as a concise, playful entry into electro-swing with roots in an unfinished game.

Paweł Kuraś introduces First Electro Swing Thing as both a debut and a document of persistence, a compact EP shaped over nearly a decade of revisions, relocations, and shifting priorities. What began as a soundtrack for a retro-inspired rhythm game, never completed, has instead settled into a self-contained release that reflects the long arc of its creation.

Paweł leans into the conventions of electro-swing without treating them as fixed. Brass lines and programmed beats sit side by side, with a clear affection for the genre’s lineage, drawing loosely from the club-ready swing of artists like Parov Stelar while maintaining a more personal, bedroom-produced character. The opening track, featuring Karolina Bzdyra, stands apart as the only vocal entry. Its lyrics, intentionally nonsensical, echo the abandoned game concept, folding in references that date back to its earliest drafts. Rather than feeling out of place, it works as a timestamp, a reminder of when the project first took shape.

The remaining tracks move into instrumental territory, where Paweł’s approach becomes more exploratory. There is a sense of iteration in the arrangements, loops and motifs that feel refined over time rather than written in a single burst. “Cat and Swing,” anchored by a saxophone hook that predates much of the EP, highlights this timeline, bridging the earliest ideas with their final form.

Outside the music, the project’s backstory adds weight without overshadowing the listening experience. Over nine years, Paweł moved cities, changed careers, completed a PhD, and built a family. Those shifts are not explicitly narrated in the tracks, but they inform the steady, unhurried feel of the record.

Released as a wonderful musical surprise over Easter, First Electro Swing Thing arrives without buildup, but not without context. It closes a long creative loop while leaving room for whatever comes next. Paweł Kuraś presents First Electro Swing Thing as both an ending and a quiet reset.