Polvo – Shapes

I remember being extremely disappointed (hated it) when this album came out in 1997, being a huge fan of Polvo skewed sonic assaults of previous album. I really did not « get » the album, but 25 years later i see the light! Hooray for me, i cant get enough if it.

Pressing - Spot on. Lively and controlled sound. No sibilance. Surface is quiet and flat and and disc is centred well.

Album - Well, like most people 'of a certain age', I got into polvo around the time of 'celebrate the new dark age' when John Peel played Every Holy Shroud and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Guitar mangling and incredible timing with comical stop/start sections that give way to almost indescribably beautiful harmonic dissonance combined with layers of hooks that shouldn't sit on top of each other without toppling over. I worked my way backwards and was blown away by their 'Today's Active Lifestyles' LP and it all seemed to continue upon discovering 'This Eclipse' and 'Exploded Drawing'. By the time 'Shapes' was released, I was off on a louisville Kentucky catch up and listening to a lot of Will Oldham/Palace, Rachel's, Slint, Rodan etc etc and I kinda missed the bus on this. I remember working behind a bar with a lovely colleague who shared my enthusiasm for loads of bands and he pulled out a home-taped cassette of Shapes (about 2 years after it was released). Enemey Insects absolutely destroyed me... then I found it patchy and difficult to stay focused on for the rest of the album, until El Rocio... Unbelievably pretty and patient; this felt like some sort of celebration of everything incredible about their previous works in a hauntingly neat, sad and anxious package. Still one of my top 3
fave Polvo tunes to this day.
Every time I come back to this album, it unravels a little more and lets me take comfort in its messy and tidy moments, the sureheaded and cocky wisdom of youth clashes with the sense of a band having less to prove to themselves or anyone else.

Without Polvo I wouldn't be who I am.. or maybe I would, but I certainly wouldn't have encountered the reassurance that the18 year old me was given by knowing there were people out there, across the ocean, making sounds that had this effect on my brain and my heart.

You can pre-order a green vinyl(Limited to 500) reissue on the T&G store.
https://store.touchandgorecords.com/collections/frontpage/products/polvo-shapes-emerald-green-lp

It takes a while to "get" this album. I initially despised it except for D.D. (S.R.), but after a few listens I began to really enjoy Enemy Insects, Rock Post Rock and El Rocio. It's not exactly like their earlier work but still really damn good. It may take a few listens to really enjoy it; but once you do you'll be wanting to hit repeat on some of these tracks.

Regarding sound quality of the vinyl (re)pressing: Pretty good. Some light surface noise but nothing that distracts from the sounds and sibilance is non-existant. How it should be. I'd go as far to say that all of Polvo's vinyl LP pressings and repressings are pretty solid.

IF YOU DON'T love 'em for their blatant disregard for conventional indie rock; or their apparent disdain for warming up to their tuned in fans; or the multitudinal chord changes and mathematical calculations of deceptively cascading rhythms; then you love them for expanding your closed mind with polarized tonal elements flavored with middle eastern touches ("The Fighting Kites," "The Golden Ladder," "Pulchritude") here and there - and this time around add some very nice familiar sounds regarding pastoral "porch" intro's or the field recordings of a stalled automobile engine that follows an avian morning ("Enemy Insects"); not to mention trumpet ("Downtown Dedication") all still quite nicely buried in the grinding churn and organized chaos of Ash Bowie and Dave Brylawski's open-tuned guitar preamble breaking out the wah-wah and even indulging in '70's sensibilities at times (altho slight, thankfully).

One of the albums showpieces - the epically beautiful disruptor "El Rocío" with it's moments of minimal quiet and pause - reminds me of Albini's minimal set on Shellac - Terraform. And then for one brief moment, as you start to warm-up to "Lantern" an open prairie wranglerified reverberating rocker - with acoustic interlude and all - it ends just as the singing starts... and so does the album.

It's clear how much the band's songwriting skills have improved, even branching out - getting better and more accessible than ever.