Trippy, dippy, and totally mind-bendy are the first things I think of when I hear the new release from Poly-math entitled Zenith (Nice Weather For Airstrikes). The opening track and the title track have this bombastic, slightly discordant saxophone that blends beat poetry, jazz, and psychedelia. Poly-math reminds me of the jazz fusion jam bands of the seventies and eighties; think Dixie Dregs, but with saxophones. Chris Olsen kills it on saxophone, by the way. Every song is elevated by his playing. If you play saxophone in a band, Olsen’s playing on this album is where you want to end up in your playing. 

One of the best parts of the album is without a doubt the bass playing. The bass is soulful and grounding. Joe Branton’s playing is a focal point for each song. Branton could give a master class in bass playing; it’s that sublime. The combination of Olsen and Branton is wickedly supported by drummer Chris Woollison, guitarist Tim Walters, and Josh Gesner on keyboards and synth. If Poly-math were art, they would be a Bonnie MacLean or Milton Glaser piece. If it were a movie, it would be Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta’s Fire and Ice. To wit, I actually popped Fire and Ice in and watched it with Zenith playing and boy howdy was it a good fit! 

Zenith is a celebration of colour and movement, and is for all the dancers, the aerialists, the animators. Zenith is for the band kids, music geeks, and hep-cats. Zenith is a celebration of pure sonic power. Poly-math created an album that is both a wonderful throwback to the psychedelic Jazz-fusion age, but it is deliciously modern at the same time. The sheer audacity of the compositions make Zenith a jaw dropping, gob smacking album to listen to and decode. Olsen, Branton, Woollison, Walters, and Glaser are perfectionists on their respective instruments and their sheer talent and dexterity is on display and will be wholly appreciated by audiophiles everywhere. 

Buy the album here:

https://orcd.co/polymathzenith

8 / 10

VICTORIA ANDERSON