Kinga Glyk - Real Life (2024)

On her 2024 album, the pioneering bassist/composer/producer Kinga Głyk traverses a wide variety of genres; co-produced by Michael League (Snarky Puppy):

"Real Life" is not only Głyk's first album in over four years, but also her most distinctive to date. The signature of this generational talent has never been as unmistakable as here. The songs were recorded last winter at Leagues Estudi Vint in Catalonia, Spain, with Grammy-winning Nic Hard (Snarky Puppy, Charlie Hunter) involved as sound engineer.

"In my first conversation with Michael, he asked me what I wanted to say with the music," reports Kinga Głyk. "My answer was: I want to lead with the bass, but I don't want people to think this is just 'a bass album'. It's more about creating beautiful songs. Music can be interesting and strong enough to touch your heart without lyrics. I love expressing my feelings through music and making beautiful songs that touch the hearts of others. Whether they were made by a bass player? That's not what matters in the end. What matters is that you tell a story with the music."

The 26-year-old from Poland - who initially earned millions of YouTube views with her viral bass cover versions of Eric Clapton, Bruno Mars, Vulfpeck and others - is far from having reached the end of her development. And yet her aim was to create something that could only come from her. Instrumental songs inspired by jazz and funk that also sounded highly contemporary, unique in their arrangement and aesthetic approach.

For the work on her new songs, Głyk teamed up with like-minded musicians:inside like aerophonist Casey Benjamin (Robert Glasper Experiment, Stefon Harris) drummer Robert "Sput" Searight (Snarky Puppy, Kirk Franklin, Ghost-Note), a slew of keyboard cracks like Caleb McCampbell (Beyoncé, Michael Bublé), Julian Pollack (Marcus Miller, David Sanborn, Joe Lovano), Nicholas Semrad (Miss Lauryn Hill, Talib Kweli, Bootsy Collins) and her longtime creative partner Brett Williams (Marcus Miller, Mumford and Sons, Stevie Wonder). Michael League, like Głyk a bassist, contributes additional keyboards as well as electric guitar, electric sitar and baritone electric guitar. As co-producer, League helps to give Głyk's compositional talent the space it deserves, while her virtuoso bass playing forms the sonic focal point from which the spatial interactions with the group emanate and drive them forward. Even purely instrumental tracks can be deeply gripping and emotional in this way, such as "Unfollower" or the lively "Swimming In The Sky", each of which is based on deeply personal storytelling. Kinga Głyk forms an almost symbiotic unit with her instrument, setting the tone between lead and rhythm, carried by catchy melodies and a bouncy groove.

TRACKLIST

1. Kinga Glyk - Fast Life
2. Kinga Głyk - Unfollower
3. Kinga Glyk - Who Cares
4. Kinga Głyk - Island
5. Kinga Głyk - Not Real
6. Kinga Głyk - Unseen Bruises
7. Kinga Glyk - Swimming in the Sky
8. Kinga Głyk - The Friend You Call
9. Kinga Głyk - That Right There
10. Kinga Głyk - Funny Bunny
11. Kinga Głyk - Sadness Does Not Last Forever
12. Kinga Głyk - Opinions