Fading

Pole is the project of ground-breaking electronic musician Stefan Betke. The new album Fading is the first since 2015’s Wald. As with every new Pole record, it’s part of a continued forward trajectory but it also connects to a pre-existing sonic framework. “Every Pole record connects to recordings that I've made before,” Betke says, “in order to stay in this kind of vertical development. The ideas from 1, 2, 3 [his groundbreaking first three albums] up to now are connected. I keep the interesting elements, languages and vocabulary that I designed and add new elements.” Fading follows the physical released on Mute of remastered versions of his iconic albums 1, 2, 3 to much acclaim.

Inspired by his mother’s Alzheimer’s, the German ambient-dub musician crafts a masterfully melancholy lament that takes his signature crackle and pop into unsettling new terrain.

Stefan Betke's earliest material released under the Pole moniker were some of the most captivating sounds to emerge from the extremely active experimental electronic circles of the late '90s.