Preview
POLMO POLPO
Friday, May 27
Broken City
Preview
SANDRO ROSSI
Saturday, May 28
Birds + Stone
As part of the community of artists that surrounds Montreal's mighty Constellation recording label, Polmo Polpo has always stuck out ever so slightly.
Alongside the mighty tall trees of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, that group's many offshoots and the more avant-garde leanings of the rest of Constellation's roster, Polmo Polpo have sanded down the more difficult aspects of instrumental composition midway between neo-classicism and post rock – in essence, creating gorgeous drones with pop heart. While it's been nearly two years since the release of Polmo Polpo's last album, the elegiac and aptly named Like Hearts Swelling, the entity's sole driving force, Sandro Rossi, has kept himself busy.
A perfectionist in practice, Rossi has spent much of the past two years writing and turning the results of what he calls a six-week experiment into yet another interesting entry in his slowly growing discography. Shortly after the release of Like Hearts Swelling, Rossi toured through Europe – albeit featuring an entirely different version of Polmo Polpo than what audiences were expecting. Presenting vocal songs in the context of an Americana-style slo-core band (membership including members of Hangedup, also from the Constellation roster), Rossi and his cohorts perfectly captured the most epic moments of Low and Mojave3, buoyed by Rossi's gorgeous whispered lyrics. The recordings of Polmo Polpo as rock group, however, have since been put through Rossi's filter and chopped up again into something somewhat more fitting with what's come before.
"I came back from tour and listened to what we did and didn't really like what happened there. I used some of the stuff from that studio session, made several over-dubs and made another instrumental track out of it that I'm really happy with," he says.
"The reason I've taken so long (between records) is it's been a real sort of transition for me, for writing and re-assessing what I want to do."
While the dreamy drone version of Polmo Polpo we've come to love is certainly the focus for Rossi's current tour, he has several projects in the works sure to confound all expectations. Most recently released, the Kiss Me Again and Again EP reveals one of Rossi's surprising new influences. "I've been listening to a ridiculous amount of Arthur Russell over the past three years and did a show of all covers including ‘Kiss Me Again’ by his old group Dinosaur. I came out with a 22-minute version of this old disco song."
While Rossi brings Polmo Polpo’s organic brand of soothing electronica to Broken City he offers an equally rare solo performance at Birds + Stone the following evening. In juggling these two personalities, Rossi has taken the extra brave step of leaving the Polmo Polpo name behind when he performs his own solo work.
"It's a much more vulnerable situation playing this way (solo acoustic), but I fully embrace it. I'm a lot more interested these days in writing songs that aren't sort of dependent on the technology – songs that don't rely on loops and samplers. It just gives me more freedom to stretch out musically."
Were that not enough, Rossi is also a member of Glissandro70, one of Toronto's finest new bands, which is currently in the mixing stages of a debut full-length album.
Duly noted for gorgeous, lengthy instrumentals brushed with lap steel guitar, cooing accordions and heartbeat percussion, the albums of Polmo Polpo display only part of the picture of Rossi's talents. Make sure to catch both sides. |
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