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First Watch: David Lynch & Marek Zebrowski, 'Polish Night Music'

Director David Lynch and Polish composer Marek Zebrowski met back in 2006 when Zebrowski helped score and did translations for Lynch's film Inland Empire. The two bonded over their shared love for experimental music, and a year later released an album of improvisations they did together called Polish Night Music. Over the course of four lengthy tracks, Lynch provided strange and unsettling synth textures while Zebrowski performed oblique melodies on the piano.

Now the two artists are sharing a previously unreleased video of a live performance they gave in Paris in 2007 that's also improvised, though it didn't appear on the album. But it captures the moody, contemplative spirit of their collaboration, with Lynch and Zebrowski surrounded by darkness, as though playing in a void.

"They met by accident waiting for the night train," Lynch deadpans before playing a note. "Her eyes met his. Instantly their hearts emerged and swelled. There was a cracking of teeth and a laughter."

Lynch and Zebrowski gave the one-time performance at a retrospective exhibition of Lynch's original artwork called "The Air Is On Fire."

Polish Night Music had a very limited release in 2007, but is getting a wider release on vinyl and digital download on Nov. 13, on Sacred Bones and Sunday Best records.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.