Antipole’s
Perspectives II was released in early April, just a few weeks after the entire
planet was forced into an unprecedented lockdown period thanks to the perils of
Covid-19, and as the title would suggest, it’s a sister release to Perspectives
(2018). But where
Perspectives revisited and reconfigured Antipole work from the Northern Flux
album (2017), Perspectives II offers up remix takes on the band’s
2019 album, Radial Glare. Well, more or less - there’s a couple of exceptions:
ten of the eleven tracks from the source album feature, while a couple of
additional tracks dig deeper into the band’s archives. What is most
important in all of this is that Perspectives II hits the same giddy high
watermark established by all of the aforementioned releases, and like Radial
Glare itself, its an intoxicating journey into melodic, hypnotic coldwave.
If I’ve been
mildly critical of Antipole’s past work on account of it being a little too
retro or derivative - see comparisons to Joy Division, The Cure, et al - or at
least skirting around the periphery of such, one of the main benefits of these
makeover releases or remix projects is the range of styles on offer. Some tunes
are even darker than the source track, while others are more geared for the
dancefloor. And all are less one dimensional than the originals simply because that’s
the nature of remixes - multiple sets of eyes and ears are tasked with
reconfiguring the material. In the case of
Perspectives II, extra gloss is lovingly added by the likes of ACTORS, Adam
Tristar, Crying Vessel, European Ghost, The Coventry, and People Theatre,
amongst others. The ACTORS remix
of ‘Decade Apart’ (below), which opens the album, is shaping up to be one of my
favourite tracks of the year, while People Theatre’s crystalline synth
transformation of ‘1983’ is surely attracting the attentions of darkwave club
DJs everywhere. Paris Alexander’s
deft production hand was all over the original album, and it remains a feature
here. Of the two non-Radial Glare tracks, Alexander adds some standalone love
to ‘Please Let Me Sleep’, featuring Eirene, which harks back to Northern Flux,
although I’m less sure about the origins of ‘Coral Joy’ (Caidas Libres Remix),
which I suspect might actually be older than anything else found on
Perspectives II. Strongly
recommended for fans of post-punk, darkwave, coldwave, shoegaze, synthpop, and
everything else in between. You can grab a
copy of the album from Antipole’s Bandcamp page here.
Following on from
the 2017 album, Northern Flux, and the excellent 2018 remix project,
Perspectives, blog favourites Antipole returned last month with another
full-length effort, Radial Glare. Antipole is
Trondheim-based Karl Morten Dahl, along with regular co-conspirators, the
Brighton-based producer Paris Alexander, and vocalist Eirene. Just like those
previous releases, Radial Glare is an intoxicating journey into the
netherworlds of dark melodic coldwave, only this time around, the vocal palate
is expanded to include a couple of tracks featuring Marc Lewis, who may (or may
not) be better known for his work with post-punk outfit, The Snake Corps.
Radial Glare
consists of 11 tracks, clocking in at just a few ticks over 45 minutes, and
it’s a thoroughly absorbing listen from start to finish, with Dahl’s signature
guitar style and careful exploitation of repetition being key to the
album’s wonderfully hypnotic flow and wider feel. Icy keys/glacial synths
add depth and texture, every track dripping with a weighty darkness and
brooding atmosphere, and naturally Eirene’s often ethereal vocal – both
orthodox and when buried deeper in the mix – only adds to this general sense of
unease. Much of Alexander
and Dahl’s production work is quite remarkable, and there are moments which hint
at references to the work of the great Martin Hannett (Joy Division, New Order,
many others) for the way the music is allowed to breathe, its use of space, its
uncluttered melancholic vibe, and the notion that quite often, less is actually
more. I won’t single out
highlights because everything here exists as part of a greater whole, there’s
no filler, and after many listens over the past fortnight or so, Radial Glare
has truly taken on a life of its own. Here’s 'Syndrome' featuring Paris Alexander:
