Szymon

A talented but troubled multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter whose honeyed falsetto and pure pop acumen didn't enter the public sphere until three years after his death, Szymon Borzestowski's evocative blend of folk, pop, and electronica occupied that impalpable sweet spot between inclusive and otherworldly. Born in Newcastle, Australia in 1989 to Polish immigrants, Szymon was the third of four children. Raised in an acutely musical household, an early infatuation with jazz, bebop, and swing led the budding artist to take up the clarinet and saxophone, on which he became quite proficient. As the years progressed, Szymon added guitar, flute, bass, drums, and piano to his increasingly vast arsenal of sonic weaponry, and upon graduating from high school, he became a master of home audio production. In 2008 he began shopping his four-song demo around, but was unable to secure much interest. That same year he embarked on a long-planned trip to Europe and Africa, and while he was away, his father, Andrzej, sent his demo to EMI, where it serendipitously landed on the desk of talent scout Mark Holland, who was immediately transfixed by what he heard. The label offered Szymon a development deal, and within weeks of returning home from his journeys abroad, he had began writing and recording what would eventually become his debut album. What followed was a series of depression-induced emotional breakdowns that resulted in multiple hospitalizations. During that time Szymon also began having doubts about his musical output, going so far as to delete files and sell off many of his instruments. In December 2012, shortly after turning 23, Szymon took his own life. With the blessing of his family, Holland and then Vice President of A&R Craig Hawker brought in producers and engineers Rusty Santos and Ian Pritchett to mix the songs that Szymon had sent to EMI back in 2009. The posthumous Tigersapp was released in 2015. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi