Tides From Nebula are Poland's emphatic answer to Mogwai, producing mesmurising ambient music with crashing guitars and drums. With two great albums under their belt, Tides from Nebula are currently working on a new record. The four-piece band recently played at Firlej, will play at this summers OFF Festival in Katowice, and will also return to Wrocław in November as support for Marrilion at Hala Stulecia. To find out more we spoke to guitarist, keyboard player and pianist Maciej Karbowski.

GG: Hi, and welcome to Wroclaw Uncut! You guys have just finished a brief Polish tour and you have some more shows on the horizon. How's the mood in the band?

MK: Quite cool, we are sorting out the details for our European and Polish tours. It's going to be both a nice and busy autumn, so we are looking forward to it. These last shows were also amazing – great crowds and a cool atmosphere, so I have to say it was one of our best tours to date.

GG: For someone who is new to Tribes From Nebula, how would you describe your sound?

MK: I think it's all about the emotions hidden in our music, if you like to listen to music passionately, i don't think you'll be disappointed, we don't do background music!

GG: As a Scotsman it's impossible to listen to your tracks without thinking there's a hint of Mogwai in there. Who were the artists that influenced the band when your were just starting out?

MK: Of course we know them, great band But we actually don't tend to listen to a lot of instrumental bands.  There are some that buck that trend however, like Pelican, Russian Circles or Jakob. At the moment we are listening to quite a bit of electronic music, some heavy stuff too of course, and progressive bands like Porcupine Tree. 

GG: This April your debut album 'Aura' was remastered by Szymon Czech. Why did you decide to re-visit the album? How does the remaster compare with the original?

MK: We thought that maybe our next few CDs should be a bit different. The first record sold out, but we like to make improvements where possible, so we thought why not? The sound is much better now, it has been totally remixed and remastered and shines in places it didn't do so much before, but everything that was cool about the original record is still there.

GG: You guys seem to be one of the most 'English friendly' bands in the country, with your official website and Facebook page statuses all in English. A lot of Polish bands don't bother using English, so why have you decided to do so?

MK: Glad to hear that, hopefully there aren't too many mistakes on there! I think the main reason is our instrumental sound, which has a more universal appeal as we don't have lyrics in any specific language. The music speaks for itself, so it can relate to anyone from across the globe. English is the most commonly used language right now, so we think it's the right thing to do. In fact most of the music we listen to is in English too.

GG: Your last record ‘Earthshine’ was produced by Zbigniew Preisner, known as one of the great composers of music for both film and theatre. How did his input help shape the record's sound? Has the time with Zbigniew made you guys contemplate about making a soundtrack yourselves?

MK: Thanks to Preisner's presence in the studio, 'Earthsine' definitely sounds more ambient and has a lot more depth, which we love. We learned a lot about music production and about writing music itself, so it really was an invaluable experience for us. I think we will try to write a movie soundtrack someday, we are waiting for offers if anyone is asking.

GG: Is there any news of a new record, and can fans expect to hear any new tracks during your upcoming gigs?

MK: Yes, we've already debuted one new song during our last 4-5 shows and it felt great. The audiences seemed pleased with a bit of new music, so that brought some very positive vibes. The plan is to release a third album in a first half of 2013, hopefully we can make it by then. Meanwhile, we look forward to seeing you at our gigs later this year!

Tides From Nebula play at this summer's OFF Festival in Katowice, which takes place from the 3rd-5th of August.

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