Szczepanik, Nicholas

***Finding direction can be a simple understatement. It's a process that lasts a lifetime, and in the end there's still the question if anything was ever answered. The new work of NICHOLAS SZCZEPANIK, Please Stop Loving Me, is a desire for something more. With torrential energy, this piece filled with raw emotion has a far-reaching expanse and the willingness to disenthrall expectation and requirement. Upended wellings lay within the ambit of the album's sound. Harmony dives forward, undulates behind and catches up again. Nicholas Szczepanik has always been fascinated by music. After acquiring a tape recorder from a thrift store in his native Maryland, Nicholas became enthralled with the sounds around him. He now focuses on creating sound art heavily influenced by emotion and memory. Following his highly praised debut album, The Chiasmus and the mini-epic, Dear Dad, comes this most intimate Szczepanik work to date, Please Stop Loving Me. It offers a true example of passionate instinct, carefree ambition and subtle poise. So seldom does an album unseat restriction, yet retain the virtue of creative purity, without fundamental concern, kindling the calms of fearlessness. This music is presented by Streamline with genuine empathy and sense of purpose. Previous Szczepanik long- and short-play releases have been issued by Unfathomless, Small Doses, Test Tube, Ruralfaune, Sentient Recognition Archive, Goat Eater Arts, and Basses Frequences. Nicholas currently resides and studies sound in Chicago. (STREET DATE - 7/19/2011)