Sau Poler plays on the border between spectral and substantive on "Esperits"

Last we heard from Poler, he was dreaming of the Big Apple with Balearic beats. Like his previous offerings, “Esperits” is an invitation to a journey, a piece of a puzzle that only comes together in context and with repeat listens. At nearly seven minutes, however, this latest is something of a journey unto itself. As the name (presumably taken from the Catalan word for “ghost” or “spirit”) might suggest, it takes the listener to the true final frontier, where no one has gone before.

It's a spectral song, flitting in and out of a subdued four-to-the-floor beat before being grounded by weighty synths that call to mind the incredible existential heaviness of space and one’s place in it. Arpeggiated synths from Poler’s trusty Arp Odyssey dance back and forth into frame like a perfectly looped GIF of shooting stars. The music seems to drift in and out of consciousness, moving between sunlight and shade, caught at some point in the atmosphere that’s not quite Earth and not quite Beyond.

“Esperits” and the EP it's taken from make for an alluring foil to Potential, the excellent new album from The Range. Though equally experimental, the best moments on Potential are grounded fundamentally in human experience, using human voices captured from YouTube and human struggles to propel the songs forward.

While Poler’s work here is distinctly human, it never implies struggle; instead, it suggests only unlimited possibility. It imagines the unexplored frontier of the chasm between life and death, of the space between worlds that no explorer has yet returned from.

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