Pola X

AMG Review of Pola X

Martin Walters
All Music Guide

This soundtrack is largely made up of compositions by Scott Walker, which the icon made in the vein of his astonishing 1995 album, Tilt. A considerably less modernist operatic approach, and certainly not half as bleak and dramatic, this recording is an elegant score to the obscure French film of the same name. For those who could not get enough of that elegiac masterpiece, they will find aspects of his sprawling avant-garde arrangements here. Largely instrumental,Pola X is an essential recording as it reflects some of the extraordinary moods of Scott Walker's late career, in which fragile minimalist composition and pop sensibilities rub shoulders with surrealist crooning. The album and also features contributions from Smog and Sonic Youth; it will certainly hold much appeal to fans of the skewed and willful abstractions that the three acts are enigmatic masters of.