Polexia: Immolation EP – “malice-hearted noise”

Polexia are a newly formed noise/spoken-word duo, consisting of Johanna Connolly and Danny Welsby.

With their debut release, the Immolation EP (the first for the SPINE Records label outside of their own band, LONESAW), the Liverpool duo arrive as some imprisoned brat pack unleashing twisted, sadistic rackets.

With Connolly’s daunting, atmospheric diatribes, Polexia take noise music into a new realm and it’s very much welcomed; Connolly’s thick Scouse twang adding a locality to the duo’s overall aesthetic.

The piercing shards of the Intro spew into Consequence of Action, spearheaded by Conolly’s marrow-deep abstract poetry (which ends in tears during The Final Act). It’s an interesting foil for Welsby’s ear-splitting waves of noise that bastardise Wolf Eyes’ withering chaos of yesteryear.

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12 1 touches on another early ’00s noise luminary in Australia’s the Grey Daturus, with Welsby’s searing avalanches of noise suffocating Connolly’s words like a python wrapped around its quarry. It’s basically turbulence committed to tape.

And that’s what Immolation is. A brief catalogue of haemorrhaging, malice-hearted noise, made at high-altitude.

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While their label mates in LONESAW may be well-versed with the cold blood-stained floors of an abattoir, Polexia seem more comfortable inside a burning aircraft that’s moments away from hitting a granite cloud; that’s exactly what Immolation sounds like.

It’s not one for the faint-hearted and, if anything, confirms that Polexia are the most exciting Liverpool act to be born out of lock-down.

Immolation is out now via SPINE Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.