Belgian electronic pioneer, Pole Folder needs little introduction. A former protégée of the UK legend and Bedrock boss, John Digweed, Pole Folder broke onto the scene in 2001 and has since evolved into a multi-instrumentalist and live performer showcasing an exciting and unique brand of melodic house and techno.
Signed to Global Underground, Renaissance and the aforementioned bedrock, Pole Folder exudes a timeless class in everything he makes. He also finds the time to run his own label, Reworck.
Pole Folder, Aethon & Jinadu join Labyrinth Music with ‘The Great Beyond’. Remix support comes from Fur Coat and Armonica.
Ahead of this new release and even more, ahead of his set at the fantastic Extrema Outdoor festival in Belgium, we passed on some questions to Pole Folder to get to know the artist a bit more.
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Hey hey, …
It took a while, and finally, you get to play for an audience again. How does that feel?
We were taken a bit by surprise. 19 months without gigs and suddenly the agenda filled up. So a little stress, but also a lot of joy. It’s a pleasure to be able to replay in front of a real audience
You’ll be playing at the amazing Extrema Outdoor Festival pretty soon. What can the audience expect?
I’m lucky that Labyrinth Music gave me the opportunity to invite Jinadu the singer from our next release ‘The Great Beyond’ to join me on stage. (Aethon the co-composer of our song unfortunately will not be able to play live with us that day). So we’re going to play this title live plus a Jinadu track and in between, I’m going to go in a melodic DJ set / Live mixing my house, progressive, indie dance influences … At a festival, you always look for the right energy for the public but it will be still layered with melodies and atmospheric elements.
A lot of artists took the past 1,5 years to produce music. An album or even multiple EP’s. What have you been up to?
I got into my role as a father as my daughter was born in February last year. But despite everything, I was able to continue production even if the pace was a little lighter. I produced personal productions and remixes for labels like Reworck, Dreaming Awake, Proton, ICONYC … and Labyrinth Music which is releasing my next release with Jinadu and Aethon. I also produced the music for an E Sport channel.
What has been the venue or place you have missed playing in most over the past year?
Without a doubt Argentina with whom I have had a special relationship for over 15 years. But in general, it was difficult to stop the performances and also to stop going to the usual places.
Any hobby that arose? Beer brewing, plants? 😉
😀 Not really. I devoted my free time to my wife and my daughter. Caring for a young child takes up a lot of time and made me realize the heavy burden that mothers have been left with for too long.
Collaborations can take on many forms. What role do they play in your approach and what are your preferred ways of engaging with other creatives through, for example, file sharing, jamming or just talking about ideas?
I like the idea of freedom and sharing in collaboration. In general, if I work with another artist I leave them as much space as possible to express themselves. It is the goal of a collaboration or in the opposite case, I do the whole production alone without anyone. Usually, I export my project in multi-track and the work afterwards will constitute a ping pong game where each one reacts to new ideas with comments or other ideas. This is especially the case when working with someone who is not in the same country. But new technologies make it possible to work quickly with big files exchanges. It is very interesting to open doors to creativity. The ideal situation, of course, is to all meet in the same studio but this is not always possible and certainly in the period that we have known and its restrictions.
You have a fantastic upcoming release out soon via Labyrinth Music. Fill us in about “The Great Beyond”. It’s not just a regular EP, it’s a collab and you have amazing artists on remix duty.
I started this project with Jinadu on vocals 4 years ago. The first full version was born which was mixed perfectly by Kid Crème. Despite this, I had the feeling that something was missing in production. Two years ago I got in touch with Aethon, as I regularly played one of his EPs during my sets. I sent him the project, he liked it a lot and sent me back a new version. We found his approach to be excellent and we then enhanced different versions to reach the final. My friend Ugur who has the Labyrinth Music label loved the track offered to release it himself. He then contacted Fur Coat for a remix while I proposed to Armonica to make the third version. We are really happy with the result and the feedback from the crowd in the last sets is excellent.
Could you take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work? Do you have a fixed schedule?
I no longer work full time in music for a few years. The constraints of life and especially the last few years have pushed me to take an additional part-time job for a Brussels association. But once a week on Mondays, I work all day at Studio A at Kid Creme’s Mansion Playground Studio. I start early, around 8 am, after dropping my daughter off at the nursery.
After installing my traditional basic set up, MacBook pro, Maschine MK3, M32 keyboard from Native Instruments as well, I launch the current projects. Whether it’s a personal production, I use the advantage of the studio acoustics and its multiple speakers to work on the mixes and the main ideas. My day usually ends around 6:00 p.m. I then work the arrangements mainly at home on the other days of the week in my free time.
How do music and other aspects of your life feed back into each other – do you separate them or instead try to make them blend seamlessly?
I think everything is linked. Of course, it is sometimes necessary to make a break with the outside world during the creative process. But it also nourishes creativity. Separating them completely seems impossible and unconstructive, at least for me.
Any other releases you have planned this year?
I’m currently working on a remix of a track from a legendary band but I can’t say more. I’m also finalizing an EP probably for my Reworck label
With the world opening up a bit, what’s next gig-wise? Anything special you are looking forward to?
I was lucky to have played two weekends in a row with Hernan Cattaneo in exceptional places. I await now the new concrete proposals. At the moment Extrema Outdoor is the next gig we are all waiting for. I have a set scheduled at Club Vaag in Belgium in October as well as proposals for ADE but the prospects are not yet very clear. We stay positive and I hope to be able to play again soon for an audience that I clearly miss as well as promoter friends and DJs that I haven’t seen for too long.
Thank you. Looking forward to Pole Folder at Extrema Outdoor.
