Polevaulter: Descending
Dose Recordings
Out now
With a subtle change in sound, the Leeds-based noise-punk vehicle of Jon Franz and Dan Wearmouth finds a consistently fascinating, slow and sludgy mix of Death Grips and Primus to be the best version of Polevaulter yet.
Between the barnstorming post-punk stompers and murky experimental noise of their debut album, Leeds’s Polevaulter have busied themselves with heavy touring, a follow-up EP, a delirious techno single, and a steady mutation into this latest iteration. On said EP, there’s less straightforward bangers, replacing hooks with an even more nuanced form of slender noise and post-punk, still coated in the sultry darkness of their debut album. This dense, provocative heaviness is instead present in other ways.
This hedonistic grittiness continues in sumptuous form on The Cursor Is A Fly, where the shouted backing vocals lurk meekly, contrasting with the power electronics and amplifying the spoken word’s lugubrious direction. The track has an almost call-and-response relationship between the blurry, droning sample and twitchy snare, an intro that grows the suspense exponentially. Brilliantly produced details like this are plentiful across Descending; whether it’s the screeching guitar noise that climaxes the end of the same track’s chorus, the careful lyrical repetition and beautifully simple, driving bass of Dogtrack; each track is visceral yet orchestrated with conductor-like precision. Even on the slower Dogtrack, their nihilistic tone remains unsettling, toying with lyrical expectations as much as the warped production, a mechanical chug of a pace working in perfect tandem with the wildly addictive “round and round” phrase.
Descending was self-produced, mixed and mastered by the band – another factor distinguishing it from their prior releases. The entire sound is therefore much clearer, especially relating to the vocals and bass, the effective samples much more impactful, meaning that Soothsayer’s blaring techno sample interacts with them for the combined effect of a slower, sludgier, doomier Primus. The juxtaposition of clean and gauzy textures – and its generally lysergic tone and structure – make Soothsayer the EP’s zaniest, most successful trip.
Manifest makes a Frankenstein’s monster of Underworld’s abstract rave and gothic Bauhaus firepower. Similar to the aforementioned dance figureheads (whose trademark track they previously covered), in terms of both percussive bassline, this penultimate track teeters between tension-building and release. The components of this tightrope walk: a lingering synth that has the discordant melody of a turn-of-the-century ringtone, drums with hypnotically foggy production, and Jon Franz’s most lurid, quoteable words.
Alongside the refresh in sonic detail – drums that maintains their industrial strength within the varied patterns, the slower pace which allows each part and tense lyrical world-building to soak in, and the focus on grinding rhythms over melody – Polevaulter maintain their quintessential allure, simultaneously offering something distinctive from each sub-genre they’re loosely tied to.
Descending is available to listen and order on cassette from Bandcamp.
Follow Polevaulter on Instagram.
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Words by James Kilkenny. Visit his Louder Than War archive to read more of his work.
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