This month we welcome the talented composer Robert Szymanek to be The Sampler’s Guest Editor!

Robert Szymanek is a composer, performer and teacher based in Bermondsey, London. He writes and performs experimentally-charged songs and instrumental pieces under the moniker Ok Bertie! using innovative and unusual technologies. His first album, Music from a Crowded Planet, was published alongside his Crowded Planet app for iOS, a beautiful and intricately designed artwork that allows users to remix and remake the music with almost infinite variation.

His latest album, We’re Done For (And Other Responses) will be released this Autumn. The focus this time is on voice and acoustic piano hooked up to a guitar effects processor. The result is a suite of industrially charged songs imagining twelve contrasting emotional reactions to an (imagined) apocalyptic event.

Have a listen:

‘Ok Bertie!’

‘Music from a Crowded Planet’

‘Crowded Planet’