Curl

Steph Kretowicz with Ben Babbitt & felicita, I hate it here (2021) — CURL x AQNB

26 October 2021

I hate it here—co-released by CURL x AQNB on tape and via download on November 19 — is a 42-minute audio narrative by writer and editor Steph Kretowicz, created in collaboration with producers and composers Ben Babbitt and felicita.

Stream & download on the CURL bandcamp

The desire for transcendence affects us all. Led by pain and dissatisfaction, the struggles of being alive can only really be overcome in death. Author and writer Steph Kretowicz’s psychedelic audio narrative wanders through a layered and multi-dimensional notion of existence as suffering. 

Ben Babbitt and felicita’s unsettling musical compositions lead this sonic trip through the atemporal influence of trauma and experience on a life, at a point where personal and cultural histories collide. Dispersed across London, Poland and Los Angeles, “I hate it here” dissolves time and location into the people and memories of the past that shape a person in the present. It touches on folk traditions throughout eras, and religious and spiritual practices across regions in a sometimes poignant, sometimes absurd tribute to the routines and rituals designed to fathom the unfathomable.

Writer & director:
Steph Kretowicz

Music & composition:
felicita & Ben Babbitt

Sound Design & Mix:
Ben Babbitt

Barbershop Quartet:
Arrangement:
Connie Jehu

Performers:
Connie Jehu
Mica Levi
Tirzah Mastin
Coby Sey

Hej Sokoły!:
Performer:
Ewa Poniatowska

Additional Field Recording:
Jonnine Standish

Voices
Vika: Vika Kirchenbauer
Dad: Chris Kretowicz
Eliza: Adelaide Clemens
Truckdriver 1: Max Göran
Truckdriver 2: Joe McKee
Babcia: Ulijona Odišarija
Uncle: Steven Harris
Mum: Anna Komorowska
Aunt 1: Marisa Aveling
Aunt 2: Cristine Brache
Frail Man: Robin Murphy
Matthew: Matt Dell
Nun: Margaret Haines
Priest: Steven Legere
Aya: Hayden Dunham

Special thanks to:
Martin Kohout

Dedicated to the memory of Matthew O’Shannessy

Commissioned by YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company) / Radio Variaatio, curated by Kaino Wennerstrand

Cassette tape edition of 100.
Aqua blue with on-cassette printing, packaged in pink case with four-panel J-card.

All physical purchases come with digital download.
Shipping within a week.