Another new modern IDM/Electronica producer out of Poland got invited to release a full-length album via the Tympanik Audio family. Responsible behind this project is Maciej Pazkiewicz and his efforts draw an own and authentic sound dimension. You’ll get a full-scale layered Ambient album, featuring experimental sound consisting of surging, Downtempo-like rhythm patterns, melodic and dreamy piano drops, and dark processed strings and at times guitar sounds. This work sounds bombastic, dark, but also relatively organic to the same time. Even if some rhythm patterns seemed to be programmed by chance (”Understanding”), or with a high sense of improvisation, the generally clear song structures with at times catchy moments (”Keep Out No Entry”) resulting in a fitting unit for this rather experimental scenario. Highlighted by both above mentioned tracks, as well as the sample-infiltrated title track, ”Return To Childhood” isn’t definitely that sort of a futuristic end-time cyberspace-sounding work, but again a kind of special and demanding Electronica album. Once again the Tympanik Audio label provides a fascinating and extra-ordinary listening experience.

After two albums under his belt using the moniker Head, Maciej Paszkiewicz has adopted a new direction and name for his musical vision: Undermathic. The debut album for this newly branded Polish IDM act, Return to Childhood provides an excellent first taste of the balletic dance of warm organic harmonies and controlled mechanical chaos.

Though the album begins with the occasionally too plodding and cumbersome "Independence," things right themselves rather quickly. "Keep Out No Entry" is the first track to capture the imagination with its sweeping waves of layered sound and tightly interwoven piano punctuation. Other tracks like "TTAGGG" and "Submissive Woman" show off Undermathic's capabilities in creating fresh and unique soundscapes that grip the listener's attention like a vise. There is also "Everything Too Late" that showcases a rich emotional depth as its calm and melancholy arrangement overlaid with what could be interpreted as the memory of a playground conveys a feeling of loss for the innocence of youth. However, there are also less successful tracks like "Lighthouse" that comes across as far too bland and "People Pass Each Other," which is overly repetitive and relies a bit too heavily on 8-bit styled audio.

Return to Childhood is overall a mellow and lovely album that is a superb fit in the Tympanik Audio catalog, but unfortunately, it also still feels like it could have used a little something more to spice up several of the tracks and make them a bit more memorable. Regardless, Undermathic has constructed an album that evokes the feeling of a lucid dream with its sweet melodies, seamless jumps in complexity, and an overall flow from sharp and pronounced to cloudy and whimsical in the listener's perception.