Oxford Drama is an electronic music band founded by Gosia Dryjańska and Marcin Mrówka from Wrocław, both born in 1993.
As the artists once shared in an interview, the idea to found a band in early 2014 came out of tiredness and boredom with studies (English philology – which explains why their lyrics are better than the average English lyrics written by Poles). They started off with guitar, keyboards and the songs of Arcade Fire and Beach House. Now they have two EPs, a total of six tracks, single remixes for other artists (Xxanaxx, We Draw A) and plans to release a full-length album.
Their style is different from the simpler and harder The Dumplings or the soothing Xxanaxx. They describe their music as ‘experimental pop’. The artists use a computer, synthesisers and a sampler, and Mrówka also plays the guitar (e.g. in Limbo) and the bass, but they only perform live music at concerts, without the use of computers. Dryjańska is responsible for all the texts, but she swears that she does not take them too seriously. She sings more freely, with a ‘more ordinary’ voice than Justyna Święs from The Dumplings.
The two with Mrówka are probably among the most passionate young electronic musicians; they are seasoned listeners. Their sources of inspiration include Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Tame Impala, Braids, Blue Hawaii, James Blake and Mac De Marco. They admit to listening to guitar bands, convinced that the artist’s approach to music and his or her idea of sound is more important than style.
In April 2014 the band released their debut EP Oxford Drama through the Bandcamp website. One of the songs, Asleep / Awake was released as a vinyl single (together with a remix of the Venter duo). A few months later, the artists prepared another EP in domestic conditions, but they were not happy with the result. Given an offer from the Brennnessel label run by the musicians from Kamp!, they decided to throw out the recorded material.
An improved version of Fluctuations came up in January 2015 signed by the Brennnessel label. Part of the work had already been done in Kamp!’s studio in Łódź, and the whole process was overseen by one of the most versatile producers of the younger generation – Michał Kupicz (colleague of Król and We Draw A).
Mrówka discussed the songs from the album in an interview with the LesGents.com blog:
Limbo shows our direction in terms of track structure. Both Hide and Seek and Tapes are pretty song-ish in this respect as opposed to Limbo. We want to go beyond running synths through a sound card and recording. We’d rather experiment with guitar amplifiers and record our own samples instead of downloading packs. It’s meant to be really ours.
Full interview
Two months after the premiere of Fluctuations Oxford Drama already played support to Jungle at their concerts in Poland. The artists have performed at the Open’er and Electronic Beats Festivals. In the autumn of 2015 they plan to release a full-length debut.
Author: Jacek Świąder, transl. Bozhana Nikolova, April 2015
2014 – Oxford Drama EP
2015 – Fluctuations EP