In order to extend their range further at the core of what they call “complex instrumentation, huge, crowd-pleasing riffs and diverse poly-rhthms”, instrumental prog / mathrock band Poly-Math have added a saxophonist to their line-up for this album, their fourth release.
As with most instrumental music, it’s hard to get away from the idea of the tv drama soundtrack, but there’s no doubt that the saxophone adds a dimension to go with the steady beat and jazzy experimentalism of the opening title track. It’s polyrhythms a plenty as we enter the dark and dangerous territory of “Velociter”, another piece of music akin to a theme tune but with progressive strands. There is progression suggesting we are entering dark alleys, and the saxophone plays its part in the mystery. To their credit Poly-Math don’t hold back on the heaviness. Dark mystery is very much at the centre of “Charger”. The saxophone here contributes to a hypnotising instrumental chorus. Subtle and distorted shapes abound. One thing for sure is that this is sinister. “Canticum II” precedes “Canticum I” and why shouldn’t it? There’s a feel of 70s prog about “Canticum II”, more so as it descends into impressively spooky psychedelic territory. The world becomes a very obscure place. To that math rhythm the saxophone blurts out its sorry and withered tale. The world explodes in inexplicable fashion, before the saxophones leads the progressive charge. On the face of it, “Canticum I” is anarchic but there is structure, albeit of an unconventional kind. Colourful guitar work precedes the technical complexity of “Proavus”. When we’re not bursting into progressive avant-gardism, there’s plenty of technical complexity. This is not theme music. This is outright bold musical adventure and invention, but not of the easy listening variety. From this we progress to the saxophonic sadness and dreams of “Mora”, and the rather sombre jazzy experimentalism of “Metam”.
I was watching a programme the other day about a 1980s fast food place in the USA, where you could choose what you wanted from a disparate set of dishes. “Zenith” is a bit like this in that it has 8 disparate tracks which are the result of Poly-Math’s complex and experimental interpretations. The saxophone adds a layer on something which has many layers and moods. It seems logical that “Canticum II” should precede “Canticum I”. I’m not going to claim that “Zenith” is one of my favourite albums of all time but it’s certainly unusual and interesting.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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