Freakspeed by POHL
Label words: This rips, you can hear the engine running hot on oil. Pohl were one of the last bands I saw before live music ended forever (for now). A Bristol duo, guitar/vox+drums. Bleeding the good shit from Killdozer to Ty Segall. I thought people needed to hear them so here they are. Pay what you want to download this. Drive around town. Walk up a mountain. Blast it. Cassette is ltd to 50 and is cheap as hell. Pick a winner.
Words about this album from Will, guitar/vox -
This record almost didn’t happen.
Conceived in the grip of a low-key amphetamine addiction, Freakspeed was originally envisioned as an epic noise-prog-space-rock double album, complete with spoken word passages and synth interludes, covering themes of biotechnology, tardigrades, alien invasion, and the dangers of super advanced artificial intelligence.
It did not turn out that way.
The first recording session was significantly delayed due to heavy snow. At one point, we turned the car around and started heading back to Bristol before the producer, Ben Scott Turner, found an alternative route. Despite the rocky start, the two initial sessions were promising. But life intervened. Work and other musical projects got in the way. Time, money and enthusiasm waned. The Freakspeed wore off, and eventually the project was shelved.
Three years went by.
And then my friend Joe called me out of the blue. A couple of songs from the Freakspeed sessions had found their way to him, via Ben, and he wanted to put it out on his new label, Wrong Speed Records. Joe needed a finished album pronto; thus began several frantic days of sifting, editing, sequencing, and many panicky messages to Ben (who obligingly sent all the advice and material requested of him, despite being on holiday at the top of Mount Snowdon).
One week later, with help from enormous amounts of coffee, bananas and energy drinks – but no amphetamines – Freakspeed is finished. It’s an EP, not an epic noise-prog-space-rock double album. But it’s finished. And now Freakspeed has found its way to you.
Did it turn out the way we planned? No. Does that matter? I don’t think so. Does it rip? You be the judge.
Will Pearce
2020
Tracklist
| 1. | Erectum | 3:00 |
| 2. | Freakspeed | 4:08 |
| 3. | Parasite | 5:20 |
| 4. | Superpredator | 2:22 |
| 5. | Insect Agony | 2:59 |
| 6. | Bleeding White Reflections | 4:08 |
| 7. | Outro | 2:16 |
