Alex Freiheit & Aleksandra Słyż – GHSTING (MDR093)

Alex Freiheit & Aleksandra Słyż – GHSTING (LP/CD/Digital)

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LP/CD/Digital – Release Date: June 20th, 2025

Tense from the first note and decisively uncompromising ‘GHSTING’ is the debut collaboration by Polish artists Alex Freiheit and Aleksandra Słyż, an incredibly unique piece of work that mixes fiction, spoken word poetry, theatrical antics, dense synthesis, acoustic ensemble and dark landscapes all set within the backdrop of a sinister Eastern Europe hotel. The resulting sound is menacing, humorous, harmonious, tumultuous, and at times quietly erotic. 

Alex Freiheit, a poet and vocalist, is widely recognized for her captivating work with the SIKSA duo. Over the past decade, she has delved into the realms of personal feminist storytelling, postmodern fairy tales, and queer legends, crafting unique and thought-provoking narratives. In this groundbreaking collaboration with talented composer Aleksandra Słyż, they are now delving into the herstory of lies and exaggerations, extracting the raw essence of these tales filled with stench, stains, secretions, and torn organs. Eyeless Freiheit haunts the hotel guests while dressed in a binder and holding a bottle filled with a corrosive substance. She shares compelling stories about the hidden activities and other secrets that unfold within the walls of hotels when no one is watching. Her gripping narrative is complemented by equally haunting and eerie music. Słyż divides the text into four chapters, skillfully intertwining synthetic and acoustic elements. She combines the sounds of synthesizers, woodwind and percussive instruments with vocals, creating a tense, dynamic soundscape. Freiheit’s voice possesses an earnest quality, where a frightening cadence suspiciously flips into a meditative cycle. 

Together, Freiheit and Słyż have crafted a bold and suggestive story that feels like the mesmerizing soundtrack to a contemporary Eastern European horror film, captivating an essence that is hard to pinpoint but instantly recognizable. This is abstractly powerful music that pushes listeners into a kaleidoscopic spiral that channels ecstatic over loss. 

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ALEKSANDRA SŁYŻ is a Polish composer, musician and sound engineer. She holds degrees from the University of A. Mickiewicz in Poznań, the Poznań Academy of Music, and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. In her compositions, Słyż explores the relationships between acoustic and synthetic sounds. This process is often rooted in natural tuning systems, through which she constructs rich, complex drone structures that highlight the power of microtonal, electroacoustic tensions. Interactive sonification systems are another large part of her artistic practice. Between 2017 and 2022 Słyż conducted artistic research involving practical experiments on movement sonification and various types of interaction. Her works have been presented at the most important European music festivals and in various major venues including Rewire Festival; CTM; Aarhus Festival; Unsound; Fiber Festival; NODE; Warsaw Autumn; Kyiv Music Fest; OSA Festival; ORF musikprotokoll; The Royal Concertgebouw; Fylkingen; Ancienne Belgique; The National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Kunsthalle Helsinki; Meet Factory; Dom im Berg; MONOM; Kunsthal Gent.

ALEX FREIHEIT (born in Gniezno, Poland) singer, performer, songwriter and poet known from the SIKSA duo. She has played over 400 concerts in Europe and Asia, from small clubs and squats to the largest European festivals (Unsound, Le Guess Who?, Festival d’Avignon, ESNS, Tallinn Music Week, Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin, Berghain, MeetFactory, Cave12, MENT, Festival di Santarcangelo, Raw Power Festival, Pardon To Tu, IDEAL Barcelona, Case à chocs, Ypsigrock). She has released a number of acclaimed albums and soundtracks and collaborated with artists such as Wacław Zimpel and Marcin Pietruszewski. Author of plays and poetry books. As a performer, she collaborates with contemporary dance artists, including Natasha Gerlach and Auguste de Boursetty. Co-author (with Piotr Macha) of experimental feature films and music videos. Alex often performs with limited instruments, and it is in her physical presence on stage that she finds the strength to create her own path. Sometimes it’s based on childhood memories, other times on fairy tales and legends, or reality transformed by an unrestrained and unchecked outlook. In her work, the personal meets the political, and the unspoken clashes with the yelled out loud. Winner of the Polityka Passport Award (2020), participant of the Shape Platform program (2021). Twice nominated for the Fryderyk Award in the Poetic Music category for albums of the band SIKSA. For many years, together with her friends, in her hometown of Gniezno, she has been running the summer outdoor cultural center Latarnia na Wenei, organizing concerts, workshops and Q&A sessions with authors and creatives for the residents of Gniezno of all ages and all walks of life.