Misia Ffm a.k.a. Misia Furtak, is a singer and bassist. Her fans all across Poland have come to recognize her bass guitar in the shape of a monarch butterfly. From 2005, she was a part of the band Très.b for eight years, along with guitarist Olivier Heim and percussionist Thomas Pettit. They first started playing in Denmark, then Holland, before eventually moving to Poland. They released the warmly received albums The Other Hand (2010) and 40 Winks Of Courage (2012). For Furtak, the latter was especially important, because for the first time she'd composed a few pieces herself. Previously, there were two unofficial releases: the EP Neon Chameleon and the album Scylla And Charybdis.
A few years ago, Misia uploaded her solo EP 40 Winks to the internet. These seven songs were the first taste of her abilities, created many years before and released prior to The Other Hand. The songs were recorded between 2001 and 2003 in her home under her signature name Misia is mju and home appliances partially played the role of instruments. These were meant to be rough drafts to be developed in the indefinite future. ‘Only three of these pieces are about love, which is a big accomplishment’, she said of her songs.
In the autumn of 2013, Misia Ff released her album Epka (EP). Apart from remixes of numbers she'd previously performed with her Dutch band, it featured two new singles she sung in Polish: Kartonem (With A Cardboard) and Mózg (Brain).
I really like the Polish language, I believe it’s very graceful. When I write in English, I write more in prose, in a form of historical cause-and-effect. On the other hand, when I write in Polish, I play with the language matter itself – rhymes, syllables. I also think that I have a different timbre of voice when I sing in Polish, something new is unleashed in my voice. Many people told me that I sing completely differently after hearing Mózg.
– Furtak explained in an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza.
Lust For Life (recorded in the famous Abbey Road studio in London) sounded wonderful on the album. Misia transformed David Bowie and Iggy Pop’s composition into a delicate, paradoxical ballad. Misia purred the famous phrase ‘I've a lust for life’ from the chorus, giving it new and powerful meanings. Mózg, with music written by Rykard Parasol, was a hit. Leszek Biolik, a musician from Republika, produced the music, taking Misia’s songs into the world of contemporary alternative pop.
From a sound point of view, Epka is the opposite of 40 Winks – it is entirely produced in the studio. In a sense, it is the continuation of the Misia is mju project, because it is my solo work on a computer. Therefore, one could say that Misia Ff is the intersection of mju and Très.b’s last album (…) in terms of lyrics, Epka reminds me of the Misia is mju project. These songs are about being lost, searching for something, being disappointed with others, not a love story.
– she said in the same interview.
Michalina Furtak was born on the 12th September, 1982 in Zielona Góra, although she soon moved with her parents to Grodzisk Mazowiecki and Warsaw. She spoke about her background in an interview with the portal MiastoKobiet.pl:
My whole family are Lemkos from Beskid Niski. Some of them feel that Lemkos are a Ukrainian ethnic group, therefore they feel more Ukrainian. For example, my mothers older brother. My mum on the other hand feels like a Pole with Lemko roots, yet my grandmother feels like a Lemko.
