Gargantuan by Polypores
Stephen James Buckley, aka Polypores, follows up 2020’s Terrain album with a second set of intricate and otherworldly synthesiser compositions for Frequency Domain.
Partially inspired by the artwork he had in mind for the release - a vast mushroom cloud of manmade structures and protruding foliage by the artist sØlar - Stephen set out to create something that sounded both huge and overwhelming. Many of the tracks feature significant use and abuse of an Eventide harmonizer; most commonly used on dry, monophonic sounds like leads or vocals, he found himself running all sorts of sounds through it, from reverb drenched chords to multiple elements of the same track, often with the harmonizer struggling to keep pace.
The result is Gargantuan - a relentless stream of intense studio explorations, presented to the listener as two dazzlingly colourful long-form pieces. “To me it's an album where something is going on the whole time,” says Stephen. “It doesn’t give you chance to think. I guess it sort of reflects the emotional response to life in 2021. Social media in particular can leave me feeling a bit frazzled. The album reflects that constant bombardment of information.”
Credits
Artwork by sØlar
