SOMEWHERE I'VE NEVER BEEN
Steph Kretowicz
Published by Pool, London, 2017, 189 pages, 18 × 10 cm, English
Price: €12

Pulling together field recordings from international soundscapes, Somewhere I’ve Never Been follows the author’s account of loss and being alone in a self-started journey through the US, Europe and the Middle East. One part of an expanded narrative on many platforms (more at: http://thepoweroflove.cz/), and against the grain of dominant visual narratives, the book is told through the sounds of corporate expansion and pop cultural hegemony heard in an ever-uneven era of globalisation and cultural mediation.

Drawn away from the music of loaded family pasts and brittle presents to the sprawling inertia of a US road trip, Kretowicz is hooked by Jason Derulo, Fairuz, Harry Partch, Lipgloss Twins, poorly pronounced Polskibus safety announcements, the crucial influence of Celine Dion; in the end pulled back to the jarring patter and endless shifts of London.

Editing: Tom Clark, Design: Maria Mitcheva, Additional editing: Aimee Cliff and Katie Lenanton.

#2017