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.