I’m not entirely sure who Polymath are, but their story goes that after a slew of successful singles and shows across the UK and Europe, Polymath have emerged from the studio with their gargantuan EP ‘Reptiles’.
I’m not sure how you actually measure the size of an EP, especially when it’s a digital release. I mean, a record or CD at least possessed a physicality that disproved claims that it was a ‘massive’ single, but something intangible like an MP3? Unless we’re talking about file size, in which case it’s all about the length of the song and how heavily compressed the audio is, how do you quantify a ‘gargantuan’ EP?
Regardless of its actual physical dimensions, musically, ‘Reptiles’ is a hard one to pin down. The six tracks rock, for sure, but they’re no ornery rock band. This is intelligent, musically articulate stuff that surges and swerves, blasting into lumbering stoner riffs from choppy combinations of post punk and match rock, before venturing into proggy space-rock frontiers.
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Their prog tendencies are accentuated in the three ‘Metamorphosis’ pieces that occupy the second half of the EP, but despite demonstrating some dextrous fretwork, there’s nothing dull or indulgent about it, and the frenetic chaos that explodes on ‘Castrovalva’ is blinding.
Unpredictable, wild, and wildly unpredictable, it’s exciting stuff.
Polymath Online
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