The Polish Ambassador

The Polish Ambassador is the stage name of David Sugalski, a musician, producer, and DJ from Oakland, California who has become a star in electronic music, mixing activism with his art. Sugalski got his start in music while he was studying marketing at the University of Colorado at Boulder, discovering his interest in music production in 2002. By 2005, Sugalski had assembled an album’s worth of what he called “8 and 16 bit funk/electro anthems” that he digitally released under the moniker the Polish Ambassador, titling the set Diplomatic Immunity. The album soon found support on digital radio, and it wasn’t long before Sugalski had an enthusiastic fan base. One of Sugalski’s new admirers was a video game designer with backing from Microsoft; he hired the Polish Ambassador to write music for a new game, and the windfall allowed Sugalski to begin pursuing music as his primary career. In addition to writing, recording, and producing music, Sugalski expanded into live performances, using computers and MIDI instruments to give each performance a distinctive feel rather than simply re-creating his studio tracks. Sugalski found a brightly colored polyester jumpsuit at a thrift store that became his on-stage uniform and visual trademark; it also inspired the name of his record label, Jumpsuit Records. Between 2008 and 2017, the prolific Sugalski issued 11 albums, including 2015′s Terra Bella, which included the breakthrough track “Let the Rhythm Just,” which received more than four million online plays. The Polish Ambassador has woven his warm, upbeat sound through a number of different electronic subgenres, including electro, chiptune, IDM, and breaks, while also maintaining a commitment to activism. Sugalski records his Polish Ambassador material at a solar-powered recording studio, and for his 2014 “Pushing Through the Pavement” tour, he alternated performance days with “action days.” On action days, he would invite his fans to join him in taking part in ecological projects scheduled during tour stops, ranging from working with community gardens to building systems to collect and reuse rainwater. In March 2017, the Polish Ambassador released Color of Flight, which, like most of his releases, was made available as a “name your price” digital download. When not busy with his Polish Ambassador projects, Sugalski also performs in the duo Wildlight with Ayla Nereo, and creates a more percussive style of dance music under the moniker Ample Mammal. ~ Mark Deming