Raised in South Florida and now based in Los Angeles, the multi-faceted composer Gregg Kowalsky has taken a powerful creative leap in his artistry. As his first new music since 2017, the renowned musician brings us further into his world and headspace with his new LP, Eso Es. A hypnotic and emotional electronic project, it pushes boundaries not only in his own work but in the genre as a whole. Bringing a level of intimacy and delicacy that is rarely found in the scene, he creates dynamic and multi-layered tracks that remind us that experimental music can take on a variety of different aesthetics and sounds. Playing with synthesisers and prompting conversations, Eso Es is an intoxicating body of work that will have you captivated from beginning to end.

We had the pleasure of hearing from Kowalsky himself about the album, track by track…

“‘Fragile Water’ was the first track that came together and solidified the direction and sound for the rest of the album. This track, as well as the others on the album, began with me programming rhythmic phrases or cycles on a sequencer. They act as the backbone for the compositions. Once I had the sequence for fragile water, I layered several DX7 patches that evoked the tone or mood I was aiming for.”

“In ‘Fontainebleau’, I created a sequence that had elements of dub, in my mind, in the vein of minimal electronic music from the late 90s early 2000s. Due to the sequence, this track hit a goal of mine prior to working on the album, which was to create music that had a lot of movement as opposed to the static drones of my earlier work.”

“‘A Chorus of Trees’ is almost like a palette cleanser since it follows two tracks with overt emotional content. I started working on the album during the pandemic, so there is some darkness embedded in the tracks, surrounded by light at the end of the tunnel. To me, it sounds like the feeling you get when you’ve been underwater for a bit and then come up for air. The track contains the sequencer and layered, rhythmic DX7 patches.”

“‘Cold Open Cascade’ is probably the darkest track on the album, but I feel it is balanced by the melodic wash that was created using the dual chorus effect on the Roland Juno 106. It also had a cold open rather than fading in.”

“‘Night Moves’ opens with a playful phrase from the sequencer. Just listening to the phrase over and over, it spawned many ideas for where the music could go. There are also several different ideas introduced throughout the track, which concludes with a repetitive chord playing on top of the rhythm sequences, and they are slightly out of time, which I really liked.”

“‘Throwing Shapes’ came later than the other tracks. Another goal I had prior to working on the album was to use percussive elements and instrumentation using the DX7 that had several overlapping cycles, creating syncopated rhythms. I would make subtle changes or add layers, and it would change the way the phrases interacted with one another. The opening of the track has a krautrock vibe but slowly morphs into something else. What’s interesting to me is that so much emotion is conveyed by percussion.”

“‘Brass Dolphins’ is another dark track with shades of hope. It also contains vibraphone and marimba patches from the DX7, with a heavy chorus effect from the Juno. I never used many effects on my earlier drone work, but I like the warmth it adds to the DX7, which is an FM synth. There is something about the combo of using chorus and FM Synthesis that I really like.”