purgist Heartsink
Five tracks recorded ahead of purgist's 2022 US tour, where harsh noise thins into drone and industrial atmosphere. The framing — narcissism, structures that cannot be controlled — is carried by the track titles as much as by the sound.
purgist – Heartsink
Heartsink is a five-track release from purgist, the project of Polish artist Dawid Kowalski, recorded in anticipation of his 2022 US tour. The release sits in the territory where harsh noise meets drone and industrial atmospherics, built around drones, weather-beaten pulsations, and oscillations that push into physical as much as sonic territory.
The tracklist maps a loose conceptual arc. Alloplastic Adaptation and Autoplastic Adaptation open and anchor the middle of the record, borrowing psychological terminology that distinguishes between adapting the external world to oneself versus adapting oneself to external conditions — a tension the record seems to hold throughout. A Hall of Mirrors sits between them, pulling the narcissism theme into direct focus. The title track Heartsink — a clinical term used to describe patients who cause a physician to feel helpless or frustrated — frames the material within an emotional and relational register that is specific and unsentimental. The closing track, People of the Lie, is the only track with guests: MK9 and Johny Yul, credited by name and nothing more — the release page identifies neither, and links to neither. The title is also that of M. Scott Peck’s 1983 book People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil; whether the borrowing is deliberate is not something the release states.
The overarching themes — narcissism, psychological control structures, the relationship between psychic and physical force — give the record a framework that is more deliberate than much noise output without tipping into didacticism. The sound itself is described as waterlogged and atmospheric, suggesting weight and submersion rather than pure abrasion.
Artwork and design are by Justyna Bielecka.
- Format: CD (sold out) and digital
- Tracks: 5
- Released: 15 July 2022
- Artwork: Justyna Bielecka
- Collaborators: MK9, Johny Yul (track 5)
Sources: the release page on Bandcamp (purgist.bandcamp.com) for the track titles, running order, credits, format and the 15 July 2022 release date; industrialart.eu for Dawid Kowalski’s name, nationality and the 2013 start of the Purgist project. Both checked 14 November 2026.
