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Miranda Cartel is the electronic project of Polish artist Emmanuella Robak, who released the 14-track album “Amethyst” on 21 March 2026. In this Miranda Cartel interview for Side-Line Magazine, Robak speaks with Karo Kratochwil about the decade between her 2015 debut “Divert” and “Amethyst”, the crystal that gives the album its name, the voice training and literary study she pursued during a long recording gap, the Polish dark alternative scene, and her return to live performance.

Robak writes, produces and sings the material herself, and also fronts the Polish darkwave band Lily of the Valley. She holds a PhD in literature and a master’s degree in English with a translation specialisation, and worked through academia, dubbing, acting and the Warsaw music scene during the years between records. Kratochwil photographed her in Dresden in 2025. The album followed the 2025 single “Andromeda”, which reopened the project after a long pause.

Miranda Cartel interview

Karo: Miranda Cartel returned after a long silence connected with academic and literary work. Did that break change the way you understand electronic music itself, or mainly the way you understand your own reasons for making it?

Miranda Cartel: That break from releasing music ultimately confirmed one thing for me: I really did want to keep making music. It also gave me time to understand which direction I wanted to take and how I wanted to continue telling my musical story.

During that period, I moved to Warsaw and immersed myself in the music scene. I went to countless concerts, discovered new genres, and had the chance to observe how different artists create and work with music. I also became involved in various musical, vocal and acting-related projects. I took dubbing classes at Katarzyna Łaska’s dubbing academy, studied vocal performance with Magdalena Hamer, performed in karaoke competitions, and played in the band Emmanacje at Akademia Rocka.

So I never really left music behind. I simply explored it from a different perspective for a while. Looking back, it was an incredibly valuable experience. Everything I learned during those years has found its way into the music I am making today, and I am sure it will also shape my live performances.

Karo: “Divert” came out in 2015, while “Amethyst” arrives more than a decade later as a full 14-track album. What changed most between those two versions of Miranda Cartel: the sound, the discipline, the emotional temperature, or your relationship with visibility?

Miranda Cartel: During that time, my whole approach to making music definitely changed. I am much more intentional now when choosing samples, paying attention to the sound itself, its quality, and the rhythmic foundation of a track. I approach melody differently, and I work with sounds in a completely different way. I now have a much clearer vision of what I want to create, but I also have a deeper understanding of music itself. Over the years, I have worked with and met many musicians who introduced me to new ideas and new possibilities. I also started taking vocal lessons, and that made a huge difference. Now I am able to sing the melodic lines I actually imagine, instead of being limited by technique. Singing lessons removed many of the limitations I had ten years ago and gave me much more confidence as a vocalist.

Karo: The title “Amethyst” immediately suggests colour, mineral depth, protection, perhaps even a kind of inner alchemy. Was it chosen for its visual and symbolic qualities, or did the album already have that violet, crystalline character before the title appeared?

Miranda Cartel: I have always loved amethysts. I am almost addicted to the energy I feel from this stone. It gives me strength, comfort and reassurance, and it makes me feel capable of overcoming whatever challenges come my way. I believe in the energy of crystals, and for me the amethyst is a talisman. It is a source of strength and positive energy that I rely on in everyday life. That is where the album title comes from. I wanted it to suggest that this record can also become a kind of talisman for different moments in life. The album explores a wide range of emotions and experiences, both joyful and difficult, but I believe every song carries its own strength and can help someone through a particular moment. I chose the title with that symbolism in mind, and it actually came to me only after the recording process was finished. Interestingly, the album also includes a track called “Amethyst”, one of its most experimental songs. But when I decided to name the album “Amethyst”, I was not thinking about that individual track. I was thinking about the album as a whole, what it represents, and, as you said, its violet, crystalline character.

Karo: Miranda Cartel has appeared on compilations connected with Alfa Matrix, Side-Line, Orkus and Electrozombies, which means the project has existed partly inside an international dark electronic network, even while remaining rooted in Poland. Did that outside recognition give you confidence, or did it create pressure to define the project more clearly?

Miranda Cartel: Every time one of my songs was selected for a compilation, it felt like real confirmation that my music resonates with people. It is one thing for me to believe my songs are good. That is obvious. But when industry professionals who understand the music market choose your tracks for their flagship compilations, it is an incredible honour. I am genuinely happy that my music has been included on those releases, and I hope it will not be the last time. I would love for my songs to appear on more compilations like that in the future.

Karo: “Andromeda” marked the return of Miranda Cartel with both sound and image. Why was that particular track the right signal after the break? Did it feel like a new beginning, or like a message sent from a place you had never fully left?

Miranda Cartel: This song, and the vision for its music video, had been in my head for a very long time. I have always loved ballads, and I think writing them is one of my strengths. So when I decided to return to music after such a long break, I knew I wanted to do it with a ballad. Not long after recording the song, we started working on the music video. It was an incredible experience, but also a real challenge, because I had to step into an acting role and express a wide range of emotions, even though I have no formal acting training. Still, I think I managed to pull it off, and the video captures exactly what I wanted to express through the song.

Karo: Polish electronic and dark alternative music has often operated outside the main European centres of scene visibility. Does working from Kielce give Miranda Cartel a sense of distance, freedom, isolation, or a sharper need to build its own language?

Miranda Cartel: Kielce has always had a vibrant music scene. When I first started making music, there were plenty of opportunities to perform live, record cover songs, and take part in music and poetry events, for example those held at Czerwony Fortepian. Working on my music there gave me a great deal of creative freedom, but it also encouraged me to develop my own artistic voice. I needed to build my own language. Now I have been living in Warsaw for the past few years, and this is where I create my music. The city offers incredible opportunities to experience live music, from concerts by international artists to performances by alternative bands, from commercial club events such as Boiler Room to underground nights in Warsaw’s independent venues. Every concert, DJ set or live performance I attend becomes a source of inspiration. Experiencing music from so many different perspectives constantly fuels my creativity and influences the way I approach my own work.

Karo: Your background includes music, academic activity and literature. How do these forms interfere with each other in your work? Does language shape the music first, or does the sound usually reveal what the text has been trying to say?

Miranda Cartel: Without a doubt, the time I dedicated to academic development completely changed the way I think about music, interpretation and storytelling. The literary sensitivity I developed through my studies, I have a PhD in literature, allows me to write songs that are meant to carry and communicate emotion. At the same time, my background in languages also changed the way I approach lyrics. I earned a master’s degree in English with a specialisation in translation, and that made me much more aware of linguistic nuance and of how subtle word choices can express exactly what I want to say. My academic and literary work gave me much greater confidence as a songwriter and expanded the ways in which I can use language to tell a story and connect with listeners. Most of the time, I write the melody first and only then add the lyrics. There are exceptions, though. “Broken” is one of them. I remember walking to work when I suddenly began quietly reciting these lyrics to myself and humming a melody. The words stuck in my head so strongly that I knew I had to capture them before they disappeared. I immediately sat down to develop the idea. Work could wait that day.

Karo: Performing at Castle Party in 2018 placed Miranda Cartel in one of the most symbolic spaces for the Polish dark scene. Looking back, did that concert feel like confirmation, confrontation, or a threshold you only understood later?

Miranda Cartel: That was not actually my first performance at Castle Party. I had already played there with my first music project, Lily of the Valley. Then, in 2017, I attended the festival in a different role. I worked there as a journalist, covering the event live for Projektor, a cultural magazine from Kielce, where I am still part of the editorial team today. I also wrote a feature article promoting the festival that year.

A year later, I returned to the Castle Party stage as Miranda Cartel, performing alongside my friend Adrianna, who played keyboards. It is always a little less stressful, and much more enjoyable, to share the stage with someone rather than perform alone. Castle Party has always been a very special festival for me. It is where I discovered many of my favourite bands, met incredible people, and learned so much about music and music production. It is also where I had the chance to meet talented musicians, passionate artists and true professionals. Performing at Castle Party was, and still is, one of the most meaningful milestones in my musical journey.

Karo: A solo electronic project often means total control, but also total responsibility. Which part of Miranda Cartel is hardest to carry alone: production decisions, emotional exposure, visual identity, promotion, or the simple persistence needed to keep going?

Miranda Cartel: Self-discipline is the hardest part of working solo, because you know you do not have any deadlines. Nobody is waiting for the track so they can record their part, nobody will say “stop” when it comes to revisions, and nobody is speeding up the process of creating music. With everything I work on, I try to reach the point where I can say to myself: okay, this is good, it is ready to be released. But that takes time and persistence. Is rushing a good idea? Releasing something in a hurry and then not being happy with it at all? At the same time, Miranda Cartel is deeply personal to me. It is my emotions, my experiences and my perspective. I am not sure I could share that creative process with someone else. Being in a band is a completely different way of working and creating together.

Karo: After “Amethyst”, what should Miranda Cartel risk next? More directness, more abstraction, stronger stage presence, deeper literary structures, or something that would disturb even your own idea of what the project is supposed to be?

Miranda Cartel: One of my biggest goals is to perform this new material live. After the holiday period, I will announce some live performances. It has been a long time since I last appeared on stage as Miranda Cartel, and I think it is definitely time to start playing concerts again. I also feel much better prepared now. I have more experience, a stronger foundation and much more confidence as a performer. I am really curious to see how audiences will respond to these songs, so I am looking forward to their feedback. I am also planning more music videos, so there is plenty of creative work ahead. I already have several ideas I would love to bring to life. And I do know one thing for sure: we definitely will not have to wait another ten years for the next album.

About Miranda Cartel

Miranda Cartel is the solo electronic project of Emmanuella Robak, based in Kielce, Poland. Robak writes, produces and sings the material, mixing darkwave and synthpop, and also fronts the Polish darkwave band Lily of the Valley. Her debut EP “Divert” appeared in 2015 on Halotan Records.

In the years that followed, Miranda Cartel tracks circulated through compilations rather than a steady release schedule, including Alfa Matrix’s “Endzeit Bunkertracks” and “Electronic Body Matrix”, Side-Line’s Face The Beat: Session 2 with the track “The Way To Follow”, the Orkus Magazine compilation, and Electrozombies tributes to Apoptygma Berzerk (“Apop We Love You”) and Depeche Mode (“Universe > Spirit”). Robak performed at Castle Party in Bolków in 2018, one of the central festivals for the Polish dark alternative scene.

After a break connected with academic and literary work, including a PhD in literature and a master’s in English translation, Robak returned with the single and video “Andromeda” in 2025. The 14-track album “Amethyst” followed on 21 March 2026 and is available on Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music. As she confirms in this interview, live dates are planned, and she does not intend to leave another decade before the next album.

Karo Kratochwil

Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.

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