MUST LISTEN: Shpongle’s Simon Posford releases genre-defying debut solo album on his time in global isolation

Simon Posford has been a master of his craft for the better part of three decades. Renowned all over the globe for his psychedelic collaborative live experience, Shpongle, and his experimental dance/movement project, Hallucinogen, Posford recently put those focuses on the shelf to rehone his earlier modes of production. Thanks to the ongoing pandemic, the veteran beatmaker has used this global time of isolation to turn inward and create.

The result is his debut solo album, Flux & Contemplation – Portrait of an Artist in Isolation, and it’s a true masterpiece. Throughout ten hyper-reflexive and cleanly mastered tracks, Posford takes listeners on a journey into new sound dimensions that harken back to his genre-defying style. Not to mention, the tracks are extremely reflective of our times, with titles like “Lockdown,” “Germination,” “The New Normal,” and more.

At times ominous and foreboding, at others strange and bizarre, but always enchantingly hypnotic, Posford welcomes listeners into the musical void with grace and intellect. In the process, Posford proves himself a true sonic shaman as he takes listeners through loops that keep cycling back. One cannot help but be forced into mindful meditation.

This is more than just a single Portrait, as its title would lead one to believe. Rather, the album represents a collection of sonic portraits bent on forcing the subject to move from the mind, through the body, and into the soul. Above all, the album is itself a lived experience that will leave listeners with more questions than answers, and will surely have them coming back for more deep, thoughtful reflection.

Photo credit: Pig & Friends Photography.