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CD Feature/ Brendan Pollard: "Flux Echoes"

  Tobias

A writing block is the ultimate test of will for any musician. For Brendan Pollard, it has proved to be a blessing. For months, he fought against a lack of inspiration and an apparent drying up of his creative well until the spell finally broke: Against all odds, “Flux Echoes” has turned out a grand statement, a monolithic display of his craftmanship – and a fluent synthesizer album void of any intellectual constraints.

It is easy to see why someone like Pollard should be faced with a blockade. As one of the few composers still working on the legacy of the famous Berlin school of electronics, his music relies on a combination of rigid, machinal linearity and a subtle, spacey groove caused by the magic interlocking of his sequencer patterns in the infinite space of an atomic subparticle-galaxy. Make or break – either these patterns grab and lift you up in in a whirl of cosmic dust, or they drop down dead like a fallen sparrow. It is this pressure which sublimates what could ultimately be nothing but some abstract knob-twiddling into an art.

On this occasion, Brendan Pollard shows himself as one of its masters. While his previous solo effort “Expansion” hinted at an exciting and progressive future thanks to its opening epic “Tegula”, he has openly decided in favour of adhering more to tradition on his latest release and coupling it with a personal touch. There is more sequencing than ever before on “Flux Echoes”, more rhythm and more daringly stretched-out arrangements: “Phosphor Skyline” weighs in at 18 minutes, the title track at 22, the centerpiece “Radiant Transmission” only ends after an entire half an hour. There are more ideas in a single work here than in his entire back catalogue and more guest musicians: Adrian Dolente on Mellotron, Mat Roberts on piano and Shelley Walker on guitar.

On the other hand and despite its cosmic proportions, arrangements also show signs of a drastic reduction. Pollard has thrown all excessive melodic ballast overboard and focussed on the hypnotic quality of his music. Walkers guitar lines seem to try and sneak in from time to time, but they too quickly melt into the pulsating texture, sweeping up the sounds to tidal waves of emotions. There is something relentless and self-forgotten about the way these tracks keep going on and on, warping space as they go along and constantly morphing their contours by hardly noticeable tonal changes and subtle shifts of balance. But just as much, there is something overwhelming about them, something undeniable.

While the gargantuan “Radiant Transmission” takes sequencing to a new level, it is possibly “Phosphor Transmission” which describes Brendan Pollard best. Here, the orientally tinged loops melt into a dense and flourescent organism, while a bustling bass dances in asymmetrical motion. A nightmare, admittedly, but a fascinating one.

In its urgency and confrontational manner, the glistening and combustible amalgam of “Flux Echoes” approximates the feeling and adrenalin-kick of rock, often sounding like the biggest thing you’ve ever heard. This sensation won’t last forever, of course. But for an album born from the ashes of a writing block, it is one of the greatest compliments imagineable.

By Tobias Fischer

Homepage: Brendan Pollard