In this week’s blog post we go behind the scenes with Polish musician, composer and interdisciplinary artist Kasia Gawlik, discussing the ideas, processes and inspirations behind her brand new Whitelabrecs release 'Echoes of Ceramics'. Once again, Ryan Watts AKA Akira Film Script steps in, to pose the questions for yet another fascinating interview.

In this conversation, Kasia reflects on her musical background, from studying classical music and music production to creating her acclaimed indie-pop meets-Jazz album 'Dream of Connection' under her KAŚKA moniker. Ryan and Kasia explore the origins of Echoes of Ceramics, a project that transforms the subtle clicks, pings and resonances of handmade ceramic objects into immersive sonic landscapes. Along the way, they discuss field recording techniques, sound design, collaboration, interdisciplinary creativity and the relationship between music, ceramics and other artistic practices that shape Kasia’s work today.

Scroll down to read this behind-the-scenes interview, where you’ll also find photos, embedded Bandcamp players and some of Kasia's wider musical recommendations. As always, at the bottom you'll find links to learn more about Kasia Gawlik and a link where you can explore Echoes of Ceramics in full.

Kasia, thank you for your time today; I know everyone's lives are busy, so I appreciate you taking a moment to chat with me about your new album, Echoes of Ceramics on Whitelabrecs, and all things Kasia + KAŚKA.

Before we dive in a bit on the new Whitelabrecs project, let's start with a bit of your personal history for folks - what is your musical background, and what led to the exceptional indie-pop-meets-jazz Dream of Connection album under your KAŚKA moniker? What were you doing in the music space before the KAŚKA project, as it seems all of us in the ambient/neoclassical space have all had past lives, so to speak? Any previous projects, bands, other recordings elsewhere of note?

Hi Ryan, thanks for having me! Well, I started musical education at the age of seven. At the very beginning, I studied classical music, but quite fast I got fascinated by soul, jazz, ambient, electronic and dance music. I also grew up in a house where listening to music was almost a sacred activity and musical eclecticism was valued and encouraged. My dad is a musician and music producer, my mom loves singing, my brother is a musician and composer…and so each of us had their own musical findings and we shared them with the others. When I was a teenager I started writing my first songs. I remember that back then I was hearing quite complex sonic worlds in my head but I had neither knowledge nor skills to execute them. That’s when I felt the need to learn more about music production. I started learning how to audio engineer, produce and mix music on my own.

Only a few years later I got admitted to Goldsmiths, University of London to study Music Production. There, under the tutelage of many brilliant composers and producers, I mastered my skills in music composition, performance, production and mixing. While at Goldsmiths, I recorded and produced my debut album Dream of Connection under KAŚKA moniker. I was lucky enough to meet wonderful people who contributed to this record. While working on this „indie-pop-meets-jazz” album I dug deeper and deeper into sound design, music production and creative mixing. It opened a whole new musical world to me. I started to explore more field recordings and tried alternative recording and mixing techniques to build unique sonic collages. I got inspired by musique concrète and themes of listening, presence and sensitivity to the hidden musicality of everyday materials. I took a step beyond strictly musical projects and got involved in audiovisual and interdisciplinary ventures. For the past few years now I have been writing music to theatre, film and installations with a strong focus on tone qualities and sonic textures.

That's a wonderfully eclectic set of inspirations, and I love that you come from a musical family; I too come from one, but admittedly studied visual arts for university - there's no doubt listening to Dream of Connection that sound design is front and center for the music, you're very versatile in audio techniques, and you did an overall masterful job!

It appears you're no stranger to collaborating with other artists on your projects - were any of the players on Dream of Connection players that support Echoes of Ceramics or other previous recordings?

Actually no, but that is mostly because I recorded and produced my debut album Dream of Connection in London, where I lived at that time. So all the musicians with whom I collaborated on the album were my London based friends. Echoes of Ceramics is a project I recorded and produced last year, already in Warsaw, Poland where I live now. My collaborators on the new album are my Polish friends. But now when I think of it, Krzysiek Baranowski, who plays double bass and moog on Echoes of Ceramics, has played a few gigs with me promoting Dream of Connection in Poland. So Krzysiek is, in a way, a part of these two albums. And may I add, he is also a part of my next album that I’m working on now. This next album is a project where my London and Warsaw based friends musicians finally meet :)

I love that you'll be able to finally bridge that gap! I also adore the digital age where we can collaborate across borders with those we know in a painless and seamless manner compared to more historical music collaborations that required in-person sessions; really opens up the possibilities, and I cannot wait to hear the next project with everyone involved - your network is quite talented!

On Echoes of Ceramics, it's built in the album title - ceramics takes a bit of center stage - and noticeably, the project is under your full name vs. your stage name; what led you to take a back seat as a performer and artist while letting something you're passionate about, like ceramics, take center stage?

I think there was a bigger change in me that led me to release projects under my full name. You already know that, besides music, I make ceramics. But I also work with textiles. All my life I have tried to toggle between all my passions. Often I thought, or society made me think, that I had to choose one profession and focus on it. But finally I understood that the music I make is better when I make ceramics and knit. And vice versa, my textile artworks are more interesting when I make music. And so, while KAŚKA was a solely musical project, nowadays I am more interested in audiovisual and interdisciplinary projects. My full name encompasses fully who I am and what I am interested in not only as a musician but as an interdisciplinary artist and human being.

Brilliantly stated, and a very astute observation. Yes, we are all better by focusing on all the things we love, as each feeds the other in some way or another.

As a bit of a ceramics nerd myself, having spent 8 years in the practice, and many years after supporting professionals in that space, I'm familiar with the sounds at the core of this project, as such Echoes of Ceramics has already captured my undivided attention (much like how Dream of Connection has been on repeat in our home lately due to a deep love of indie pop, and jazz, all the same); what processes and gear did you utilize to capture the field recordings and raw audio of the ceramics post-kiln? Did you use different gear in the days following the first day out of the kiln for the residual clicks and pings from the ceramics? My understanding is you found some sounds days if not weeks from certain ceramics coming out of the fire.

Two weeks was the longest recording time for one of my sculptures! I became a specialist in changing battery in my Zoom recorder as fast as possible haha. It was such an interesting process of listening to the ceramic clicks gradually fading away. A proper „echo” experience. I usually used the same set up for all the field recordings: zoom recorder, a pair of condenser mics and a contact mic from Oaka Instruments. I love this set up! It allowed me to capture all the details of the ceramic sounds. It is also so compact I could take it to all the alternative firings I did all over Poland. Fun fact: the hardest recording session was a raku firing as it is the only technique of firing where you can take out ceramics from the kiln when they are extremely hot. I had to be extra cautious with the mics when recording, and I couldn’t use the contact mic obviously. But it paid off! These recordings were one of the best I’ve got. Such intense, rich and diverse clicks and pings.

I'm still entirely blown away by your idea and execution. As a Zoom owner myself, I know the "battery swap" very well, haha.

Outside of your portable Musique Concète-like Zoom setup, what did your other production setup look like for this project? Any pedals, synths, VSTs, or the like to speak of that brought this project together? Any key items for post-production on the ceramic sonics before composition and additional players on the project were incorporated?

For Echo 1 and Echo 6 I did as little post production as possible as I wanted to keep the rawness and the natural beauty of the ceramic pings. I spent months listening carefully to all my field recordings, editing them and running them through tape machine. For Echo 2, 3, 4, 5 the process was different. The ideas was to dig deeper into sound design and explore how I could build diverse ceramic sonic worlds in post production. I used the ceramic objects I created effectively as instruments. I also recorded ceramic ocarinas, shakers and gongs I made. I run the recordings through tape machine and diverse audio effects. My most favorite were granular synthesis (Output Portal and Hologram Microcosm) and diverse reverbs and delays. These were the key items to build the ceramic sonics.

Thanks for sharing that with us - those who know me and my music know of my undying love for tape and the Microcosm, so I can see further why this album has captivated my attentions of late.

Just for a sense of scale, how long have you been capturing these sounds to create the body of source material for this album? And what were the sources? Different kilns/firing processes? Different glazes?

I was lucky enough to work on this project for a whole year. I spent eight months building ceramic forms, firing and recording them. I’ve literally recorded every single unloading of the kiln (electric, wood-fired, raku, paper and Hungarian one). I've tested different types of clay, glazes and methods of firing in order to capture the whole spectrum of the ceramic sounds. For those who don’t know, making ceramics is a long and time consuming process. It involves slow-drying, bisque firing, and only then a final glaze firing. It requires patience and often takes around one to three weeks from start to finish. Eight months were enough for me to gather extensive source material for this album. Then, I spent the rest four months listening to the recordings, editing them and finally writing the compositions. But to be honest, even though I had quite some time to delve into this project, it is by no means finished. I could still spend months exploring the ceramic sonics further and further.

Ah, yes, the well documented "when is it finished?" conundrum. I'd say you could just keep going and start a series with these releases. Just a thought...

Going back to your collaborators on Echoes of Ceramics, would you mind introducing them, what instrument they offered to this outing, and how you all became connected musically?

With pleasure! Echo 2 features wonderful Lena Nowak on bass clarinet. I got to know Lena when I was thirteen but somehow working on Echoes of Ceramics was our first musical meeting. Surely not the last one! Echo 3 features Karolina Gutowska on violin and Kasia Stasiewicz on cello. Incredible musicians that I’ve got to know quite recently through a common friend. So very happy they are a part of this album. Echo 4 and Echo 5 feature the above mentioned Krzysiek Baranowski on moog and double bass. I actually met Krzysiek around the same time as Lena but we only started to collaborate musically when I moved back to Poland. Such a talented musician! I am so grateful that all these wonderful people wanted to be a part of this project. They shaped the final result in a way that simply wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

Sounds like it was an awesome group to collaborate with - I can see (well, hear) how this team and the London team could work magic on the next project if working in tandem.

Guilty pleasure inquiry; but did you find more satisfaction in singing your heart out and sharing your experiences on the KAŚKA project, or is there a deeper sense of satisfaction in letting your passion for creating physical objects and finding their "voices" on Echoes of Ceramics?

I find loads of satisfaction in both, just in a different way! I guess it all comes down to timing. There is time for performing, there is time for studio work and there is time for interdisciplinary projects. I may need one more, or maybe one is better for me, at some point, but I believe I need all these experiences to be fulfilled and to grow as an artist. It works a bit like seasons in nature. While in summer you want to be outside and catch every ray of sunshine, in winter you organically want to stay more at home. And you need both for balance. There are times when I feel stage energy and there are times when I want to hide in my studio and spend countless hours working on sound design. Usually, my intuition tells me what is best for me at the very moment, and well, I try to follow it. It is not an easy task but it’s worth it!

Another brilliantly stated observation.

I understand the human voice plays into Echoes..., however, I'd be hard pressed to say something is specifically a voice across all my listeners to the album thus far (a testament to your production skills); how much of what we're hearing on this album is yours, or another's, voice as opposed to ceramics and instruments?

There are several layers of my vocals on Echo 5. But this is the only track on the album where you will hear vocals per se. I must admit I was tempted many times to add more vocals to the compositions but I decided to let the ceramics speak and sing. Whenever I listen to the ceramic sonic textures of Echo 2 I hear a choir of whispering voices emerging and fading away. And the intensified ceramic clicks and pings, as in Echo 6 for instance, remind me of the dynamics of animated conversations at a cafe. It is fascinating to me how we perceive and interpret sounds. What we associate them with or what kind of memories they bring back. I am interested in capturing and creating sounds with obscure or surprising source. This way we can create new auditory experiences.

Sounds like we're encroaching on the "when is it finished?" thing again, haha. Regarding the Echo 6 cafe conversations, I'd always be torn between: do I add a cafe field recording to really drive the point home, or do I not, and let the listener find its palace in their external environment? I'd have to say you nailed down new auditory experiences on Echos....

With such an eclectic sound across your projects, and based on your description of growing up in your musical home, it's clear your output is very inspired, and as such, in the Whitelabrecs community, we're always sharing the things we love today and from the past. What are some of your favorite albums that you're listening to nowadays, and can you share some personal classic albums you love?

Sure! Here are a few albums I have been listening to a lot lately:

• Passepartout Duo - Radio Yugawara

• Royber Trio - November

• Dan Nicholls - Mattering and Meaning

• Josh Johnson - Who Happens If

On personal classic albums I love, it is so hard as there are so many! So the first ones that come to mind:

• Ganavya - Daughter of a Temple

• Floating Points feat. Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises

• James Blake - Retrograde

• Rosie Lowe, Duval Timothy - Son

• Erykah Badu - New Ameryka Part Two

• Harold Budd / Brian Eno - The Pavilion of Dreams

• Alabaster DePlume - GOLD

• Björk - Homogenic

Epic selections, both past and present - thanks for sharing that with us! I'm sure folks will find some new favorites from your offerings herein.

Before we part ways today, any upcoming live sets, tours, or other live experiences you're a part of coming up that you'd like to share with us? Any upcoming musical releases we should be on the lookout for in the near future? And, anywhere online folks can purchase your ceramic creations, now that they've heard them quite intimately?

Actually, I will be playing a couple of Echoes of Ceramics live sets! These will be really special as I will be performing the songs from the album surrounded by my ceramic sculptures. I will be posting the exact dates of these performances on my Instagram account HERE and webpage: kasiagawlik.com soon. I am also extremely excited to say that, in October 2026, the Echoes of Ceramics exhibition will be presented again in Warsaw. Autumn is so beautiful in Poland so I encourage you all to come over! Answering your question about my ceramic creations, you can find them on my webpage and on my ceramic Instagram account HERE where you can purchase them as well. And if you are looking for more musical releases from me, I invite you all to check out the music I wrote with Jerzy Rogiewicz to Nie Ma Duchów W Mieszkaniu Na Dobrej (No Ghosts On Good Street) film, directed by Emi Buchwald. We have recently released it as a soundtrack and it is available on all streaming platforms. Enjoy!

Well, I know where my next ceramics purchase will be from! And yes, anyone in Warsaw this fall, I'd recommend the exhibition as the thing to do while visiting! I'll also be firing up Apple Music later today, so it sounds like the soundtrack will be in order!

I greatly appreciate you sitting and chatting with me Kasia - all my best; until we speak again.

Thanks so much Ryan, it was so nice chatting with you!

We hope you enjoyed this interview! To explore more about Kasia Gawlik, you can follow the links below...

Website

Instagram

'Echoes of Ceramics' is available as a digital-only edition complete with a special PDF booklet of drawings, photos and process notes arranged by Kasia. You can take a listen to the album in full HERE!