Polish duo BORDER have crafted a deliciously catchy sound that toes the line between emo, grunge and pop-punk without wanting to be tied to any specific genre. The duo is on a mission to deliver music that’s dirty, emotional, energetic, unfiltered and uncompromising, and they describe their sound as “honest, intense and melodic.”
Intriguingly, BORDER pairs relative seasoned music veteran Patryk Berkan with novice vocalist Klaudia Edyta Tomczyk, for whom their recent debut single was her first music release. On the other hand, Patryk (now 28) started his first band when he was 17, then delved deep into music production and experimenting with various genres. That included spending hundreds of hours crafting the perfect pop sound before, thankfully for us, diversifying that approach.
As he explains: “I caught myself in a trap of making songs more to be impressive and popular than to be an expression of my thoughts and feelings. It’s a rabbit hole that a lot of musicians fall into and most of the time it ends with burnout.
“Luckily, one day I went to a party and talked to some friends about doing a jam session, just casually, for fun. Somehow, it got me thinking about the times when I was in a band and how awesome it made me feel. That party happened about a year ago, and since then, I probably haven’t had a day without thinking about how I’m gonna make the first fully professional band in my life. The plan was and still is to do it 100% on my terms, no compromises. Not to be rich and famous (although it wouldn’t hurt), but to make songs that actually mean something to me and other people, and at the same time are fun to listen to.”
Since then, Patryk has been busy writing songs and recording demos as he began to think about putting a band together, but found it easier to record everything himself. The challenge now was to find a vocalist, which became a painful process. But, after six months of searching, joining 30 Facebook groups and meeting around 100 candidates, he eventually discovered Klaudia.
“I’m so glad I did that,” he told us. “I wasn’t sure when I heard her first demos, but after a short talk, I knew we were gonna make some crazy stuff together. The day I first worked with her in a studio was the last time since the days of my first band that I worried about finding the right vocalist.”
On the sound the duo are crafting, Patryk told us: “The whole point is not to get categorised. We’ve got a pretty punk attitude about that. But if we had to describe our style, it’d land somewhere between emo, grunge, and dirty pop punk. It also shifts from track to track.”
Our first taste of that is the duo’s debut single Fading, which was released at the end of last month. And, immediately upon hearing Klaudia’s vocals, you have to question what Patryk was worried about – with her catchy, Avril Lavigne-esque catchy, engaging yet feisty sound.
The track starts with big dark guitar chords that drop into Klaudia’s engaging fast-paced vocals “I don’t mind if you walk in my life, But I just want you to know it’s a little messed up, Sometimes don’t know what’s wrong and what is right, I can’t tell a day from a night, And then I’m lying on the floor and screaming I’m alright, And I’m gonna lie until I fill the void.” The vocals take centre stage as Klaudia’s cries of “I bet you, Won’t save me, I’ve been so fucked up lately, No reason, To stay here” are answered by little stabs of guitar to set up a big singalong chorus.
That gives way to a little section of guitars with cries of “Watch me as I’m fading,” before dropping into another engaging verse and building back into the catchy chorus. The guitar chords extend then drop into dreamy vocals, which set up a final blast of the chorus – and it ends with heavy guitars and cool “la la la” vocals.
On the track, Patryk told us: “It’s one of the wildest productions I’ve done so far, so I’m stoked to see how it will resonate. For Klaudia, it’s her first ever release so she’s probably even more hyped than I am. Fading is one of our more intense and darker songs, but like most of our stuff, it’s a mix both emotionally and stylistically. There’s rawness, there’s melody, there’s chaos. Honestly, the best way to experience it is to not expect anything. Just let it grab you.”
The BORDER sound is inspired by a range of music genres. One of the first sparks for this was fellow female-fronted Liverpool band The Mysterines (who are also very good), along with rock bands like Papa Roach, Audioslave, The Pretty Reckless and Marilyn Manson and punkier artists like Avril Lavigne, Pale Waves, Paramore, and Halsey.
And on what inspires them to write music, Patryk told us: “There’s no better inspiration than your darkest thoughts and no better way to deal with them than turning them into something creative. That’s what we do most of the time. But of course, not everything has to be dark or depressing. A lot of times I don’t know what I’m writing about until I finish the song and even then, it’s not always obvious.
“What stays consistent is: Klaudia’s vocals. Powerful, but with a soft, girly edge. Always ready to crawl under your skin. My obsession with music production which results in a lot of ear candy and carefully sculpted sonic spaces. Highly emotional yet conscious songwriting. Guitars that sound like they don’t give a fuck, but they absolutely do.”
BORDER are only the second band we’ve ever interviewed, so we asked them for their insight into their local scene. “There are tons of creative people and great musicians in Poland,” Patryk said. However, rock music definitely isn’t the main focus of our music scene these days. We have a strong legacy – bands like Maanam, Hey, O.N.A. or Niemen, but personally, I don’t really listen to modern
Polish rock. Honestly, we’re very curious to see how the Polish scene will respond to our music. We have no expectations.”
Fading is very much only the beginning for BORDER, who have a few more tracks ready for release and are currently working on a video for their second single, which should be out this summer. They’re also on the lookout for musicians to form a live band but, in the meantime, they’re looking into playing a few smaller shows in Warsaw.
You can follow BORDER on Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify and YouTube.
Listen to BORDER and more new music on our Spotify playlists GigRadar Rock and GigRadar Punk
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