Arsenic Solaris / LP/CD/DL / 2025
My mother always said that I could outtalk the Devil if he tried to debate with me, but even I was lost for words on December 7, when I heard Witness Wounds for the first time. Attempting to interpret something that resonates with the innermost depths of the human soul, penetrating deep inside, reaching the bottom of the DNA and audaciously pulsing with every heartbeat, connecting with it, overwriting the code, threatens to result in a shameful simplification, if not to say profanity. So how to evaluate the inexplicable? To do so, one must follow the example of the best…
In Non Stop magazine, supplementary to Democratic Weekly from 1985, Wojciech Mann, describing Robert Plant’s solo album Shaken’n’Stirred, wrote that the album was “as dull as ditchwater” and that “it makes him want to vomit while listening to it” . Of course, in Witness Wounds’ case, the situation is completely opposite, but I thought that only that kind of simplicity of expression and crystal-clear sincerity could truly reflect the character of this outstanding work, without detracting from its overwhelming beauty or narrowing the audience’s perception.
The album was created during a three-week artistic residency at the Marburg Theater Neben dem Turm, located within a former gasworks station. The specific acoustic structure of this space, characteristic of industrial facilities, had a significant impact upon the sound of the recordings. I will not attempt to define the genre of this work, as I do not feel capable of doing so. I can only think of some vague associations with the works of Valentina Magaletti, Mai Mai Mai, Sofia Jernberg, Merzbow… Semantics fail, much like when astrophysicists try to describe phenomena that, as they all previously believed, have no place in existence. However, following in the footsteps of the esteemed Mr. Wojtek, I can only say that when I listen to Witness Wounds, everything inside me wants to dance, I feel alive, and I feel immense gratitude.
Kristin Gerwien works at the aforementioned theater as a jack-of-all-trades – she is responsible for the program, residency applications, set design, costumes, acting, playing instruments and singing, while also exploring the contrasts of the surrounding world with Sara Trawöger, using experimental music as a medium of expression in their duo Tomorrow I Feel Wrong. P/O Massacre, consisting of two Anton’s, was already introduced to you in my review on Aural Corrosion in 2023 – if this is your first time hearing about it, I highly recommend sinking your teeth into this album as well.
All of the artists featured here are multi-talented multi-instrumentalists, which is why we are treated to such a rich variety of sounds, textures, intensities, and emotions in this hour-long wonder of human creativity. For those who find this album “heavy,” I can reassure you that it could have been even tougher — anyone who’s had the chance to hear P/O Massacre live knows that these guys are a machine capable of dismantling fallout shelters with noise, but their collaboration with the girls from TIFW has somehow managed to soften the Russian jackhammer a bit through a consensual and deeply mindful transformation. It is true that demolitions did take place, however, where the dust settles, flowers immediately sprout among the ruins. Really.
It’s unbelievable that a random encounter at the XCITING festival in Stuttgart in 2021 managed to result in a huge blast that showed me a completely new, colorful, and vast universe worth exploring repeatedly. Thank you, guys and girls. Scoring at least 50 out of 10.
Date of issue: 5 December 2025
Marta Podoska