Notes from Christopher Stewart: The Music of Poligraf

3-7-05

Comments on two tracks, SubjeKctiv and Sooner or Later.

This version of "SubjeKctiv" is basically a demo. It was put together for "The 2004 ProjeKction Music ProjeKct." Participants could submit almost anything as long as it included at least one of the many audio clips provided by the project initiator (Darren Lock @ http://projekction.net/). A CD of all the submissions is available on CD Baby (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/projekction). I already had the KC-ish/Frippish arpeggios, and the rest came about when I heard the clip that I used for the intro. The bass and drums are MIDI played through a Roland SC-88, and the guitar is a Fernandes Monterey Elite through a Line6 FlextoneII. The title comes from the recognition of subjectivity as a fundamental principle of human experience. As such, the piece can function as a reminder that "experience is subjective," which would be my prime aphorism, if I collected them, just a bit ahead of "recognition is involuntary."

"Sooner Or Later" was played on my Godin Multiac Nylon SA, which is so responsive that I'm still finding it hard to play cleanly even after many years of adaptation. The piece is in two movements that could be entitled something like "Struggle" and "There's no need to struggle," and is about the joy and rewards that necessarily follow labor.

The name "Poligraf" was chosen, or perhaps recognized, among a bunch of names that I used to gather and suggest at band rehearsals. The band was called "Golem" for a while, but as there had been another band with that same name in the area, we chose to change our name. "Polygraph" was the first (and only) name upon which all the band members agreed. Since we were a bilingual band, and couldn't agree on a spelling (English "polygraph" or French "polygraphe"), we decided to spell it "Poligraf," after its International Phonetical Alphabet representation (see the logo here for instance: ). The word "polygraph" itself ended up on my list after seeing Robert Lepage's movie "Le Polygraphe" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117356/) on a sunday evening while working on a bit of music based on a guitar-tapping pattern.

There are two main axes to Poligraf. As in "a medical instrument that records several physiological processes simultaneously," or as in "an author who writes about various subject," two meanings of the word "polygraph", the first axis is about polyvalence, and by extension, diversity. Instrumentally, this takes the form of musicians not being confined to only one instrument. Musically, this takes the form of a wide range of influences all integrated into one homogeneous whole, while at the same time avoiding the obvious idioms of those particular influences. When Poligraf reaches its aim, the end results are highly original pieces of music to which people from various backgrounds find a connection.

The second axis is about the "lie detector" part, the quest for truth in the individual. Poligraf's music is not about fitting genres or categories, it's about remaining true to a vision, and trusting that this honesty in the creative process will bring to the participants involved, be they musicians, collaborators, or listeners, part of the truth they need to find their peace. Poligraf's music is about transcendence, showing to those who need to see it that regardless of one's name, form, or origin, and no matter how bad one was hurt in the past, this world constantly provides to those who trust their own senses, their very own lie detectors, the means to rise above their condition and reach their promised land.

The tracks are available on http://www.weed-files.com

Poligraf - http://www.poligrafmusic.com

--- You'll find mp3 demos of the previous incarnation of the band here: http://www.poligrafmusic.com/BeforeFeb2003/English/clips.html

--- There's also a few compositions over here: http://www.poligrafmusic.com/English/music.html