I am pleased to announce that on February 7th, 2023, I am releasing my fourth album/first EP named Techknow.

Techknow was written, mostly, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming out of the Icebergs sessions, which were deep in thought and very intense, I needed to write tracks that were a little more fun and almost mindless.  Just write, don’t think too much, have fun and play with the instruments all while telling a story.

Techknow is a vastly different album yet still typically Polyatomic.  This time, my inspiration was my time in Europe between March 2019 and March 2020, and in particular Berlin, Germany.   I really do need to thank my day job and the client I was travelling for, who are the main reason I was in Europe and was able to travel around so much.

This EP is way more inspired by harder techno and acid house than cinematics and trance, yet both are also present because that’s my style.

I wanted to use more modular techniques, different sound generation techniques such as FM synthesis, and use hardware sequencers rather than working fully in the DAW.  

Mini synths like the Korg NTS-1 and the Volca series, which are amazing, and all over this album.  I was completely surprised by a Teenage Engineering OP-Z purchased during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Of course, soft synths certainly make an appearance too such as Apple’s ES P, ES2 and you can’t forget Alchemy.  Software is vital and everything ends up in the DAW for the final mix down.  

Project Alien was started during the Terminal sessions.  The intro sounded very sci fi, dark, maybe a dreary night, an alien ship arriving, opening up…  One of my typical cinematic soundscapes with a bit of edge that takes you on a journey.

Somehow the aliens have abducted you to take you to their Berghain.  Walking in you hear 3am at the Lab. Anyone into techno these days is familiar with the Berghain and others may know Lab.Oratory.  This is my homage to both.  This was almost completely written on a Teenage Engineering OP-Z with help from a Roland TB-3.  That OP-Z blew me away and is definitely a favourite piece of kit.  Jussi’s remix at the end of the album takes the track further into Berghain territory with his remix which is amazing!

Now it’s time to chill with Sonar,  a bit of a trance track, inspired by the oceanic themes from the Icebergs sessions.  This time, going underwater. This track goes a fair ways back in terms of Polyatomic history.  It’s always good to keep tracks you’re stuck on, finding new life much later.  This used the Korg NTS-1, Volca Beats and FM heavily for sound sources.

Full Sail was also inspired by the oceanic themes from the Iceberg sessions, this is a crunchy sounding track, probably the most accessible on the album.  Much thanks to Andreas Gregor (Techniques Berlin, Digital Poodle) for the Roland SH-201 featured on this track, now part of my collection!

Every time I listen to Boss Battle, I think of someone trying to win a boss battle mashed up with Super Smash Brothers while on psychedelics.  Believe me, I wasn’t on anything when putting this together, just a very vivid imagination.  Music, especially when I’m writing it can put me into a state of euphoria, and this track certainly did with Izotope/BT’s Stutter Edit and Breaktweaker.

Rivers is a quieter trance track to close out the album, save for Jussi’s remix of of 3am at the Lab.  I’d love to hear this playing in a club sometime.  Valhalla reverb is sublime at what it does.  

The artwork is all inspired by Germany and Berlin; the cover photo being a selfie I took at Neptunbrunnen, and the rest of the photos all from my time in Berlin in 2019. 

All tracks written, produced, engineered and programmed by Iain Bennett, except for:
7 written by Bennett/Jussi, engineered by Bennett/Jussi, mixed and engineered by Jussi

All tracks recorded at Synthcave and Solarium

Polyatomic is Iain Bennett
Design by S. James Curtis Design

Thanks and much respect to Scott, Smashy, John, Sté, Andrew, Andreas, Jussi, Mark, Dougie, Laura and Joe.

In August 2022, I released Icebergs as well as two singles, “Better to Love” and “Trashfire”. I realize I hadn’t actually updated my website, mainly due to some major issues with my web provider and WordPress, but hey, here are the details. Here are the liner notes and art from the album and the singles:

All tracks written, produced and engineered by Polyatomic.

Recorded at Solarium, Toronto and across the United Kingdom on trains, planes and in hotels.

Polyatomic is Iain Bennett
Design by S. James Curtis Design 

Thanks and much respect to Scott, Smashy, James Fowler, the pup, the boy, MasterClass, Deadmau5, Armin van Buuren and James Wiltshire at F9/The Freemasons. 

Equipment and software used in the making of this album – Roland Aira TR-8, TB-3, System 1, System-8, and Integra-7, Moog Subsequent 37, Korg Wavestate, Novation MiniNova, Steinberg UR44, Yamaha HS-5, Blue Yeti, Apple MacBook Pro and iMac, Logic Pro X, Reason Studio, Spectrasonics Omnisphere, ReFX Nexus, Waldorf Largo and PPG Wave 3; Korg Collection, Native Instruments Komplete 11 Ultimate, Arturia vCollection, XFer Records Serum, LFOTool, Roland Cloud, IZotope BreakTweaker, StutterEdit, Ozone, Tonal Balance, Nectar and RX; Valhalla Room, Supermassive; and Loopcloud. 

Icebergs started life as the complement to a friend’s visual art installation. He was heading to Newfoundland to film icebergs for a visual art installation he was creating and he wanted music to go with the project. Inspired, I wanted to write a double album – fast tracks and then strip back and slow down versions of those same tracks. The stripped back versions would be used for the actual visual installation. 

At the start of this project, I took my husband, Scott, to St. John’s, Newfoundland; for a long weekend where we toured the Avalon peninsula on our own. St. John’s was where I was born and I had not been back since 1998, and it was a stunning weekend. The Victoria Day weekend can be hit or miss in Newfoundland, and the weather was glorious. 

I have a lot of complex emotions related to Newfoundland, my identity as a Newfoundlander, and feeling a bit of cultural FOMO having left when I was four. What happened on that trip was me being able to get immersed in my culture, reclamation of identity and reminder things I had lost and getting back in touch. It was a chance to show something to Scott, of which I am deeply proud and to remind myself of that pride. 

While the art installation didn’t happen and my music was not used, I still continued with Icebergs as a personal homage to the province, and tells a tale of things that have happened over the past four years.  This is my first album of completely new works from scratch, previously unreleased without going into my back catalogue.

Newfoundland, aka The Rock, the golden arrow pointing eastward. It’s where the story of this album begins. A homage to my province of birth. 

From 2010 to 2017, 8 men disappeared in Toronto’s worst case of a serial killer. This shook Toronto’s gay community to its core. Flankers and embers, while written with Andrew Kinsman in mind, as he had contributed to Polyatomic by finding a Korg Trinity for me, a year before he was killed; it is written to honour those men. Gone and not forgotten. 

Miss the point – How do you express the pain of watching someone destroy their life in front of you and they miss every point you make, due to mental health related to existing drug use? The helplessness, the complexity, the “what the hell is going on inside your mind” that we ask ourselves. You won’t hear this but I miss you and hope you find what you need to kick the habit. 

Happy to be home was written just after Terminal was released, around the time Scott and I visited Newfoundland and after a particularly heavy period of travel. It was originally added to a special edition version of Terminal not available on the usual digital stores. This song always lifts me up and has been remastered for Icebergs. 

I spent a lot of time in Manchester between August 2019 and March 2020. I adore the history, the canals, the music scene, and Canal St. Better to love was written in response to a night of clubbing with amazing tunes spun by DJ Moodybear. This boy knows his music and he knows how to play a crowd. I’ve come to really appreciate the power of the dance floor since the start of quarantine during the COVID pandemic and I’m looking forward to getting back out there. This one is for you Andrew and John. 

Trashfireembodies some of the emotions, ups and downs I’ve had since March. I wanted to write as much of this track on the Korg Wavestate, which has some amazing iconic sounds. I could not have written this track without that synth. Yes, that is an acid
line from Roland Cloud’s TB-303 which is sublime. 

Oceanics follows the Atlantic theme of the album, thinking of ships in the North Atlantic whether small fishing trawlers, large oil tankers or even cruise ships. 

The world keeps turning is a reminder that regardless of what we go through over time, our planet, the Earth, still keeps turning and continuing on it’s journey. A good trance track sucks you in with both subtle and not so subtle changes and I could have continued this track past 10 minutes but had to say enough was enough. 

We now head into the ambient section of the album.  The Rock (Winter Mix) is one of the two tracks that were stripped back for the aforementioned art installation, envisioning a cold, wintery Newfoundland. 

Terra Nova is the second ambient track written for the visual art installation and is the slower version of Happy to be home. Think of a morning sunrise or even sunset over the North Atlantic. It would be awesome to hear this and Happy to be home recorded with an orchestra. 

Closing off the album with Cruising, a challenge track requested by Smashy, who does my art and design work.  He asked me to limit myself to four parts, one could be a drum kit, with unlimited effects.  I think the album needed an ambient track to close it out.  This is all Roland Jupiter-Xm, Valhalla Room and StutterEdit.

This brings the album to a close with the themes of travel, pain, healing and love.  The last few tracks have been cathartic and have helped me to focus on doing something productive and constructive in a time of chaos and quarantine.

I am NOT changing my art.  What ever happened to Apple’s Think Different campaign?  Seriously!

Terminal – ターミナル
The new album from Polyatomic
Available 07/01/2016
Pre-order today at BandCamp.
Other digital music stores coming soon!

Terminal is a collection of songs written that go back as far as 2004 and up until April 2016.  It reflects the theme of travel, some current, some from years passed.

Let’s talk about the tracks.

Terminal Nexus (2:30) (2014) – This is the introductory piece to the album.  It was originally written for Drake Jensen as a remix of his cover of Beautiful Colours, originally written by Duran Duran.  This is really the intro to the 12in Expedition of Joy mix.  It is still one of the most epic things I have written, and I am very proud of the experience behind Beautiful Colours.  This was too good to pass up not releasing.  A video does exist for Beautiful Colours, by the way.

Concorde (4:00) (2015) – This is my way of paying homage to one of the most beautiful planes ever developed and features samples from the last time it took off from New York’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport.  I would have written this while travelling to and from Portland and at home.

The Altar (3:38) (2006) – Kind of a Depeche Mode inspired piece.  Despite the throbbing bass and beats, it’s one of those pieces that kind of chills me out while I’m sitting in a lounge.

Intercontinental Shift (4:22) (2015) – I invested in Ableton Live and a Push in 2014, figuring it was time to learn how to use it.  This was my first Ableton project. It is inspired by the following quote from Pet Shop Boys:

A flat, B flat, G minor 7th, C minor. That’s The Chord Change. You can’t go wrong with that. A guaranteed worldwide hit.

Okay, not quite in my world, but it is a great set of chords and quite uplifting.  It is the chord structure used in Being Boring and It’s Alright.

This was probably the most challenging track on the album for a few reasons.

• The first challenge: I used Native Instruments Molekular extensively on the track to get those micro edits and stutters.  One of the Molekular FX I used is randomized, meaning that every time I bounce the track the sound changes every time.  I have re-bounced this track at least 5 times to get the sound I was looking for.
• The second challenge: The mix presented is in a binaural format.  There is also a proper surround sound version created.  Mixing for binaural is one challenge, for surround is a completely different kettle of fish, and you get different aspects of the sound coming out.
• It is the album’s most complex track with 33 elements playing at the same time, and probably the most demanding of CPU.
• Definitely listen to this song with a good pair of headphones.  You’ll hear some really neat detail.

Why the name Intercontinental Shift?  Imagine flying through the air constantly between the east and west coast, dealing with security, customs and boarder patrol, time zone changes, retinal scans, fingerprint scans, and vast amounts of data being transferred about me as I travel, all while maintaining a chipper attitude.  That’s the theme of the song.

787 (3:42) (2015) – Another song about a beautiful and fuel efficient airplane with graceful swooped up wings, as it slices through the sky flying between Vancouver and Toronto, Toronto and Tokyo, and the multiple times I’ve taken the -8 and -9 variants.  Probably my most favourite plane to fly on these days.

This was the third of the four tracks written on a plane.  It was started as Scott and I were flying to Tokyo.

8:00pm (4:08) (2004) – The oldest of all the tracks on the album.  Inspired by Pink Floyd’s High Hopes from The Division Bell, which is a fantastic album in my top 100 albums of all time. Trance.

Reginald Letting Go (4:12) (2007) – I ‘wrote’ this going to Mexico for the first time, for a big party put on by the company I work for.  It was inspired by visions of Elton John playing piano in one of his fabulous outfits, just around the time he came out of the closet, hence the letting go part.  Anyone who knows Elton, knows what his original first name was.

Okay disclosure time – This song was written fully using Apple Loops which are royalty free.  It’s probably the laziest I was, and it was around the time I put Polyatomic on hiatus for 7 years.  Other than this song, all of the songs I wrote on this album are genuine programming jobs by me.  I played and programmed the notes, but not on this track.  It was like playing musical Lego. Pre-formed blocks ready for you to use, leave it up to your imagination to see what you come up with.

That said, I learned a valuable lesson about being authentic and true to your art form, and not being complacent.  This album did push my limits, and I had people behind me pushing me.  Going from Reginald Letting Go to a difficult track like Intercontinental Shift or Terminal Nexus/Beautiful Colours shows how far I’ve come as an artist, and where I want to go as an artist.

Still, I really like the sounds and how I arranged Reginald Letting Go.  It’s a fantastic track and one I really like, hence the placement on Terminal.

Altitude (7:09) (2015) – The second longest track on the album and the second track on the album written on a plane.  I actually wrote this on a red eye from Vancouver to Toronto when I couldn’t sleep, in an Air Canada studio pod.  I was fortunate enough to get the single seat so I could spread everything out.  It is totally about being a business traveller, sitting on a plane, enjoying the service, looking out the window, looking forward to being home.  This track takes me back to early 90s trance.  It is mixed a little louder with deeper bass.  This may have also been the first track that I used Native Instruments Replika which is an amazing delay/diffusion effect.  I adore this track.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (5:30) (2016) – The last track to be written and last to be written on a plane, specifically an A330 from Vancouver to Toronto.  This sums up the album and the past year of travel.  It features Stutter Edit and BreakTweaker.  Not my first track to feature Izotope/bt’s StutterEdit, but definitely the first to feature BreakTweaker which is AMAZING.  I can’t wait to mix it with NI Molekular for some amazing beats.  I also adore this track.  Like Altitude, it takes me back to early 90s trance but updated.  You can hear the influence bt has had on me.

Terminal Nexus (Polyatomic’s Expedition of Joy Mix) (7:34) (2014) – Longest track on the album. Oh how I wish you could hear the lyrics that were for this track.  For the record, it sounds nothing like the original Beautiful Colours but it works amazingly.  This was one of the most epic things I have written, and even to this day I’m amazed it came out of my fingers.

Terminal Nexus (Dislexia’s Chill Mix) (4:24) (2014) – Thanks to Dyslexia for the remix!  I really like what he did with Terminal Nexus, truly adding to the chilled vibe of some of the tracks on this album.  This mix reminds me of something that Art of Noise would do.  Not a bad comparison, and I love the stutter effects.

So there you have it, the history, inspiration and stories behind the making of Terminal.

All tracks written, produced, engineered and programmed by Iain Bennett, except for:
1, 10 written by Bennett/Hutchings/Jensen, engineered by Bennett/Hutchings, executive producer Myke Hutchings
11 written Bennett/Hutchings/Jensen/Carroll, mixed and engineered by Dislexia.

Tracks 3, 6, 7 recorded at Thorncliffe
Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 recorded at Solarium and various Boeing 787s, 777s; Airbus A319s, A320s, A321s and A330s flying between Toronto, Vancouver, Portland, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Manila and Dallas.

Polyatomic is Iain Bennett
Design by TBD

polyatomic.mathan.ca
facebook.com/polyatomicproject
soundcloud.com/polyatomic

Thanks and much respect to Scott, Grace, Jeff, Colin.
Huge thanks to Myke Hutchings, Drake Jensen and Michael Morin.
Special thanks to Duran Duran, Air Canada and all of the flight attendants, pilots and ground staff who have kept us safe over the years.
Even bigger thanks to my mother and father without whom the music lessons and encouragement in technology would have never happened.

Equipment and software used in the making of this album – Korg TritonLE, KronosX, Roland Aira TR-8, TB-3, System 1, Ableton Push, Push 2, Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol, Maschine, Sternberg UR44, Yamaha HS-5, Apple MacBook Pro & Macbook Air, Logic Pro X, Propellerheads Reason, Native Instruments Komplete 10 Ultimate, Ableton Live, Isotope StutterEdit and BreakTweaker.

Almost a year later and, well, the new album is pretty much complete.  Fix a few glitches, final mastering and mix down.

In the past year, I –

• Wrote three songs on airplanes, specifically a 777, 787 and most recently an A319 and A320 in one day between Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver.
• Visited Asia for the first time, three trips.  This has definitely been the year of Asia.
• Invested in the Electronic Opus Kickstarter which got me copies of both BreakTweaker and StutterEdit.  Both of these are amazing tools that can certainly be overused.
• I also have the two bt sample discs – Breaks from the NuSkool and Twisted Textures.  I’ve used NuSkool on the new album hidden behind some fun StutterEdits so you have absolutely no idea what beat I used.
• The new album will be named “ターミナル” (Terminal).
• Tracks on the album to date, and not in order
  • Terminal Nexus
  • Concorde
  • The Altar
  • Intercontinental Shift
  • 8:00pm
  • 787
  • Reginald Letting Go
  • Altitude
  • Planes, Trains and Automobiles
  • Terminal Nexus (Polyatomic’s 12 Expedition of Joy)

Polyatomic can be found in a few places online

• Facebook
• Soundcloud
• Apple Music

Surprisingly, I’ve come to the realization that I have 7 tracks completed for the next album. It’s going to be similar to Solarium in that 3 of the tracks are remastered versions of tracks already released, and so far 4 new tracks (although 1 of those is a remix).

The album has more of a Future House and Trance feel to it. I was thinking it’s sounding darker, but there’s really only one track that is “dark”. The rest are pretty uplifting and rave danceable. Travel seems to be the theme given I’ve been doing and will be doing a lot more.

The joy of being an independent artist is that, I have no timeline or deadline for the album.  While it would be fun to hit September 1st like Solarium (two albums one year after the other!), I’m going to be too busy in Japan and Hong Kong at the end of August into September, and travelling heaps in between. So I’d rather be creative when I have my peaks and chill when I’m not feeling as creative.

I commented to Dislexia the other day that while I love the sounds I have on my laptop, sometimes I really want to dive into using my Kronos, use my TR-8, etc…I wish I could carry my studio with me on my travels so I can just doink and play with them.

And here is the Terminal Nexus, Polyatomic’s 12inch Expedition Of Joy Mix.

This track has an interesting history.  Early 2014, I was asked if I would be interested in doing a remix of a track for the upcoming album by Drake Jensen, Retro.  The song was a going to be a Duran Duran of a song that was not quite released by the band but was on a fan made b-side compilation.

Absolutely!  It daunted me, but the person who approached me thought I would do a bang up job.  What did I have to lose?

Around Mid 2014 I received the vocal stems and a demo.  I listened to that track for days, obsessing over details within the track.  My vision – turn it into a 90s dance anthem that would work during, say, a Pride event.

It took a while for everything to click for the  remix.  I found chords that worked using my Korg Kronos X.  I wanted to use the new Roland SH-101 plug-out that was made available for the Roland System 1.  I had a vision.

Interesting, the first version that I started writing sounded way too dark.  I had these Blade Runner-like sounds all over the track that did not fit in with the track.  More on this later.

I had a sketch, and then I was stuck for sounds. What do I use, how do I build this up to be an epic dance track from being country and rock?

Scott and our friend Nico listened asI sat in the living room, laptop hooked up to our sound system throwing sounds at the track.  It started to sound amazing!  I had an epiphany around how sounds can be combined together and I had the basis for the track.

I then had to figure out, how do I take the vocals from 105-106 bpm to 125 bpm?  Not as hard as it sounds with Logic Pro X, definitely meticulous.

About a month or two later, I went up to Ottawa to present the remix.  Drake and his partner Michael had an idea that I was doing a remix, but they weren’t 100% sure.  I said, “Hey, I have a track for you to listen to that I want your opinion on.”

They were gobsmacked as I was shaking, hoping for their approval.  That first remix, in full, comprises the bulk of the “Polyatomic’s 12inch Expedition Of Joy Mix”.  It was certainly a  more accessible mix.

But what about this 7 minute plus piece of music?  Remember those Blade Runner-like sounds I mentioned?  I saw down and thought, “Hey, I really want to kick this up, make it a stomper.”

Enter what would have been a 2 to 3-minute intro to the 12in mix that really takes you on a journey.  An epic journey, expedition of joy as I call it.

The track was not released on Retro, mainly because we were asked not to release any version of the track.  It’s possible that Duran Duran could release the track in the future.  Fair enough and I can appreciate that.

Still, this is a piece of music that needed to be released in some way as it’s too good to be kept locked down.  Terminal Nexus is the result.

I travel a lot between Toronto, Portland and Dallas for work over the past 4 years.  My next album is definitely themed around travel and specifically air travel.  You can hear a story in Terminal Nexus if you listen carefully.

I know Drake and the team would have loved to release the track in question.  I would have loved to released the remix I did.  It would have been epic for all of us.  Who knows, maybe in the future we can release it.  Maybe I’ll get a chance to remix the track for Duran Duran – that would be a dream.

It was an honour to work on this project the experience has been worth it.

Sadly, Beautiful Colours, the remix I did for a well known Canadian country artist, is sadly not going to be released due to request from the original band Duran Duran.  Given I know Roger Taylor would love to see this track released, it’s not surprising.

So if anyone from Duran Duran or their management is seeing this, I would love to remix Beautiful Colours if you do release it in the future!

In the meantime, Terminal Nexus, a demo snippet I released, is the beginning of the 8 minute plus remix of Beautiful Colours.  Look for the full “Expedition of Joy Remix” of Terminal Nexus coming soon!