Tár is a four-piece from Szczecin, Poland, comprising Tomasz Jackowski on vocals, Krzysztof Boboryko on guitars, Robert Lachendro on bass, and Daniel Nowakowski on drums. They made their live debut in fall 2024 alongside their first release, Chasing Shadows… Losing Ground and Dancing on the Event Horizon is their second EP, out April 24th. The band has coined their own genre tag, “nostalgic-gaze,” and it’s a fair description: they’re pulling from Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones, Truckfighters, and the heavier end of the early 2000s alternative scene and running it all through a shoegaze atmosphere. Four tracks, one clear conceptual thread, meant to be heard in sequence.
As a theatrical EP meant to be listened to in sequence, like any good story, we start already in a predicament: lost in space at the event horizon, trying to find “A Course for Home.” With that first track, the band sets the atmosphere, and the key is in the production as much as it is in the writing and harmonic choices, because if that guitar doesn’t sound like a rocket engine, then we’re not in space anymore. It does, and so we’re launched into the atmosphere. The mood shifts in “Black Lights” towards something more nostalgic, though the cosmic elements remain; the melancholy cuts through the cosmic rays. “Neon Blood” sounds exactly as aggressive as its title and drives forward with explicit lyrics and syncopated beats. There is some experimentation with the production as the song progresses that keeps you hooked the whole way through.
The crown jewel of the EP is definitely “Anatomy of Letting Go.” This song delivers the message of the whole record: that even at the point of no return, at the event horizon itself, and in the face of certain death, we still dance and sing and love, because that’s what it means to be human. That message is accentuated by the creative choice of making the chorus more anthemic than anything else on the EP. It’s a brilliant closer that brings the whole thing together with a strong finish.
For a band only a year and a half into their existence, Dancing on the Event Horizon is a confident and cohesive statement. The concept holds, the sequencing works, and the production earns its own atmosphere. Worth watching.
