Psychedelic Sophisticates

Sub Pop signs celebrated Polish rock group Trupa Trupa

February 26, 2019April 11, 2019 Ron Hart 0 Comments Poland, Sub Pop, Trupa Trupa

Trupa Trupa 2017/fotografował Michał Szlaga

About three or four years ago, I struck up a friendship on Facebook with Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, singer/guitarist for Polish psych-pop outfit Trupa Trupa, the missing link between Scritti Politti and Spacemen 3. He’d ask my opinion about what American labels the band should send their demo to, and Sub Pop was at the top of my tip list.

Now in 2019, it’s pretty cool to report that this Gdansk-based combination of Kwiatkowski (vocal, guitar), Wojciech Juchniewicz (vocal, bass guitar, guitar), Rafał Wojczal (second guitar, keys) and Tomasz Pawluczuk (drums) have joined the ranks of Codeine, Red Red Meat and Shabazz Palaces in the artier end of the Sub Pop catalog.

The iconic Seattle imprint kicks off its 31st year by signing the band to a worldwide deal, and will release new music from the group in 2019. While we await details of that release, Trupa Trupa have delivered an official video for the album’s first single “Dream About.”

Director Benjamin Finger had this to say of the “Dream About” visual: “The video was shot on Super 8, a format I am strongly connected to, and I think it fits the music of Trupa Trupa. There is something poetic about the music, and I think it matches the images in a good way. The “Dream About” video is also about seeing the world through the eyes of the child. The video features footage shot on location in Vancouver, Paris and Buenos Aires.”

Trupa Trupa will tour the world in 2019, beginning with appearances at SXSW in Austin, Texas (March 14th-16th), and Slovakia and Poland (April 25th-27th). Additional shows will be announced soon.

Mar. 14 – Austin, TX – SXSW / Hotel Vegas / LEVITATION SXSW presented by CREEM Magazine (12:20 am)

Mar. 15 – Austin, TX – SXSW / Austin Convention Center / Flatstock Stage (3:30 pm)

Mar. 16 – Austin, TX – SXSW / Venue TBC

Apr. 25 – Gdańsk, PL – Ziemia

Apr. 26 – Poznań, PL – Spring Break Festival

Apr. 27 – Bratislava, SK – Sharpe Festival

Trupa Trupa is the second Polish band to sign to Sub Pop this year, following the February release of Perfect Son’s debut, Cast, which you need to check out immediately if you haven’t already. As with Perfect Son, Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman, who has long taken a personal interest in the culture and history of Poland, had Trupa Trupa on his radar for years. In a 2013 interview with Pitchfork, he even mistook their second album, ++, for a set of demos when explaining that he was trying to decide whether or not he liked it. Apparently, he did.

Watch this space for further information on Trupa Trupa and their forthcoming opus.