In this interview spotlight, I chat with Przemysław Tymiński who is behind the project poto&aby. We discuss AI in music, dream collaborations, motivations, and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

This AI thing is getting way out of control. I have students using ChatGPT to write death metal songs about country music…and country songs about being sad. You can feed some Ais a text prompt and create a Hollywood-quality short film. How do you feel about this new wave of technological innovation?

I think what matters is a result. If the music created with AI as a tool could move my body and imagination I wouldn’t mind. People can use comb and paper as an instrument and it works if it’s good. But so far I haven’t heard anything meaningful generated by AI. We create songs to communicate something and I don’t think AI can offer anything of it’s own. It’s just generating a pulp of what was already created by people. At some point it will probably be able to mimic humans to certain extend, but it won’t be able to express the feelings of a being made of flesh and blood. Think of Michael Stipe, Suzanne Vega or Zack de la Rocha, no computer on Earth can replace personalities like them. What I really like about being a DIY musician is a full control over the process and I wouldn’t like the algorithm to decide for me. On the other hand I wouldn’t mind a helping AI hand in mastering my tracks. If I could ask AI to correct EQ and make my guitar sound a bit warmer in a specific song that would be useful.

I know it’s hard…but what’s your favorite song and/or favorite artist of all time? If not favorite, in your top 3?

“Little Star” by Stina Nordenstam. All of Stina’s albums have a special place in my heart. No AI thing can beat that.

Were you trying to accomplish anything specific or different with this project? What’s the back story?

“The window of his room” will be my third album and working on it was a sort of emotional escape from the terrifying news we hear every day since the Russian army invaded Ukraine, our neighbouring country. In this part of Europe we are living under nuclear threats from the Russian dictator (may his name be erased) and I cannot do much about it so I focus on the present but escape to the past on occasions to find some comfort. I took my ‘drawer novel’ written almost 20 years ago and I treated it as a source of inspiration for the lyrics and music so now it’s not entirely lost. Even the purely instrumental pieces refer to the passages from my book. It’s a simple story of a boy who grows up and I think I’ve managed to put some true emotions into this project. Musically it is the most original thing I’ve done so far. There are even elements of classical music and jazz noir. I surprised myself with the diveristy of sounds and compositions therefore I am greatful to the creators of free DAWs and virtual instruments. Without them I wouldn’t be able to achive such a wide sonic scope by myself. It would be just me and the guitar or piano. As for the music videos related with this project I decided to use the footage which I recorded in the past. In “Where the music comes from” you can watch my recordings of wildlife in the region where I grew up and by this summer I will release two or three videos that will be also a kind of short documentaries.

What drives you to create? What keeps you going, especially on the bad days?

I find comfort in music. Good music created by other people takes me beyond this world, beyond myself, and the music which I create helps me to express the things I can’t express with words and to highlight the stories I want to tell.

If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why? Please plug them with a link so readers can check them out.

In 2012 on my first album I collaborated with my wife Agnieszka. The most beautiful result of this is a song called “Skraj Lasu” (eng. The Edge Of The Forest) in which she sings in an invented language of her own. The animated video was inspired by our travel to Lapland. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mr6O7nAX8c]. In 2022 I collaborated with my favourite guitarist and a friend of mine – Grzegorz Białowarczuk – with whom we once started a teenage band 30 years ago. We recorded a track “Na Bagna” (eng. To The Swamps) which is a protest song against ill-treatment of migrants and asylum seekers by border forces on the Poland-Belarus border. The video was inpired by William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” novel. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R40D5x9_B4] In 2032 I would like to collaborate with Stina Nordenstam, Jesca Hoop, Eddie Vedder, Billy Corgan and Sting if they will be still with us.

Where is the best place to stay connected with You?

Check my YouTube playlists as new videos will arrive in April and May [https://www.youtube.com/@studioulica/playlists], listen to my albums on Bandcamp [https://potoiaby.bandcamp.com/] and feel free to contact me directly to get some of my mp3s to listen for free: potoiaby@op.pl

I appreciate Your time. Want to say anything else before we sign off?

Thank you for the opportunity to introduce my music to the English-speaking audience.