Hot on the tail of intricate lead single ‘Solutionism‘, Outside the Academy aka Pawel Cholewa (Pa-vell Ho-li-ver) will release his new EP Second-Guessing and next single ‘Salient’, which premiered on The Music, this Friday 10 March. OTA is currently launching the EP on a 100% free entry tour across several East Coast show dates, which kicked off in Byron Bay in late February.

Brimming with ambience, glitch, moody dance beats and melodic guitar, Second-Guessing weaves a tangled yet ultimately cathartic web. The irony of using technology as a method of production whilst actively criticising it is not lost on Cholewa, who admits the EP is the result of “Second-guessing this relationship, myself, others, my music, yet continuously coming back to these songs as a safety net of (mis)understanding.” Entirely self-produced, with mixing from Konstantin Kerstig (The Belligerents, WAAX, Morning Harvey), Second-Guessing offers itself as a touchstone for a culture of ambivalent creatives who are only certain about one thing: creating.

‘Salient‘, the ambient, soaring new single taken from Second-Guessing, is part “traditional break-up song”, part contemplation on generational divides and the vast ocean of differing lived experiences between oneself and, for example, one’s grandparents. Though Cholewa is the first to admit that the song’s title is used in a slightly incorrect context, the song’s narrative of frustration and angst brought on by irreparable communication breakdown is cuttingly clear.

AMNPLIFY – BA