Listening to Poly-Math’s music for the first time, would made me think straight away that The Mars Volta has been resurrected, carrying the elements of math-rock, insane time changes, wah-wah, salsa, and the wackiness to fill in those crazy textures this Brighton/London-based band have pulsated something underneath their sleeve when it comes to filling in the works of the Volta and Crimson like a massive wildfire, spreading across the country.
That and their latest album Something Deeply Hidden, which is the band’s fifth studio album released this year on the Laser’s Edge label, proves that the poly-rhythms and complexity is still growing stronger, better, louder, and nastier than ever! The name of the album Something Deeply Hidden and its track names are taking from Theoretical physicist Sean M. Carroll’s book on Quantum Mechanics, Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime released back in 2019.
This is like going back and revisiting the albums such as Frances the Mute and Tetragrammation right from the get-go when the Volta were riding high in the mid-to-late 2000s during that time period. Take for example on ‘No Such Thing As Now’ there are the congas, playing in this frantic paced as Tim Walters and Chris Wollison go in for these caged animal attacks, waiting for the creature to be free and unchained, ready to hunt for some human flesh as Gesner’s mellotron creates this 50s sci-fi atmosphere that speaks of the B-Movies and surreal altitude which adds more tension to the beat the quartet handle on this mo-fo.
‘The Universe As An Engine’ opens the album with a brutal wake-up call Woollison adds to his drum kit by honouring both Bill Bruford and the late, great Neil Peart down to a T. At first, you think it’s a continuation to where Rush’s ‘YYZ’ had left off, but Poly-Math adds in that beat and measurement to the composition where they turn it into this cat-and-mouse chase, straight from the Tom & Jerry shorts in the late 1940s, early 1950s, but with a surreal avant-garde filmmaking approach in its fast-driven climax near the end.
Both ‘OneTwoThreeFour Body Problem’ and ‘Euthyphro Dilemma’ see the band, weigh in the post-hardcore punk attitude in its unbelievable twist, but carrying a bit of the salsa groove thrown into the spicy ingredients in a way the band have put into the chilli pot to make it extra spicy and extra delicious to the flavor in the dish that is about to be served to its waiting customer.
When you listen to ‘Chronostesia’, it’s almost as if you’re walking into this the medley formation on ‘The Streets of Cairo’ as the Arabian dance goes into a full loop with backward tapes and Radiohead-like structures which speak of the Kid A momentum thrown into the twister Poly-Math has created. There are some incredible Fripp-like textures which adds in that crunch and going up/down the fretboard trying to get that higher note on the instrument before disappearing off into the night.
Something Deeply Hidden is Poly-Math’s weirdest and strangest album the band have unleashed for 2026. Yet, it is how the band really want to push that envelope further into the void by going in for the kill with more strength and wisdom they pour their heart and souls in. And we’ve got to experience it, top to bottom.
