Pathos Trio, from Brooklyn, is a piano/percussion trio made up of Felix Reyes and Marcelina Suchocka on percussion and Will Healy on piano. Their no-holds-barred approach to contemporary music leads them to create an aesthetic and structural fusion of avant-garde art music with multi-trend electro, rock and ambient.
Polarity, their new album, is an anthology of compositions, each quite different from the next, which, taken as a whole, give the impression of a kaleidoscopic tribute to Nils Frahm. We go from a kind of hiccupping drum’n’bass where Steve Reich is also invited (Mega Cicada by Ian Chang) to a synthwave anthem reminiscent of the soundtrack to Terminator (1984) and criss-crossed by hard-rock drumsets (Split by Phong Tran), passing through conventional but seductive House, Deadmau5-style (PITY by Andrew M. Rodriguez) and the industrial/jazz E.S.T./Indie mix of Monolitos (by Vincente Hansen Atria). The strange, exploratory ambient, tinged with neo-classicism, of 21600 (Paul Mortilla) completes the programme, along with the neo-minimalist synth-pop of Home/Gone (Clara Warnaar).
The eclectic, rather sunny selection is certainly pleasing, but doesn’t seem to put the members of the acoustic trio in any great technical or interpretive danger. For a more faithful representation of these musicians’ raw talent, listen to their previous album, When Dark Sounds Collide, on Bandcamp.
That said, Polarity may not impress, but it does make for some pleasant listening moments.
