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"Held in Suspension" is the debut EP by POLAR STILL, introducing a cinematic ambient sound shaped by stillness, weight, and restrained motion.

Built from slow-evolving textures, subtle classical elements, and minimal melodic fragments, the EP explores moments where time seems to pause — neither fully moving forward nor standing still.

With no emphasis on resolution or spectacle, Held in Suspension invites deep listening, reflection, and quiet immersion, establishing POLAR STILL as a project focused on atmosphere, balance, and emotional restraint.

Support

Light Held Between

Side A of "Ode to Mud"
(2019)
Cassette & Digital via .jpeg Artefacts
https://jpegartefacts.bandcamp.com/album/ode-to-mud

Mute Dot
Theme
Fax 1
Fax 2
Eye

Mastered by Joseph Buchan
Artwork by James Vinciguerra

"Ode to Mud" (Side A)

Having formed over ten years ago, as teenagers, Nantes duo Simon Puiroux (electronics and sax) and Charles Dubois (percussion) construct the music of Humbros on a semi-improvised framework. Rhythmic patterns, samples and melodic phrases act as marker points along each piece’s winding, free-flowing narrative, a musical communication honed over their years of collaboration to reach From 0 to 90’s clairvoyant levels of improvisational understanding.

The record’s wealth of exploratory sonics stems from Humbros’ unique combination of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. Puiroux and Dubois line up recogniseable toms, congas, bells, and exotic wind instruments alongside a cryptic treasury of more curious artefacts: sound-distorting mirrors, wood, skins, metals, voice processors, and percussive stringed instruments. Combined with Puiroux’s modular synthesis and treated saxophone, this journey from heady, pulsating polyrhythms to sparse, chirruping insects of tropical concréte digs deep into hypnotic, meditative textures (they are never “jams”) whilst maintaining a deeply philosophical, conceptual relationship with the energies generated.

Constantly positioned in an intersection, in balance between acoustic and electronic sound, Humbros acts as an exploration of the “in-between”, produced by the marriage of two distinct timbral approaches. They sit between repetitive minimalism and illuminative free-jazz; between angular patterns and lysergic, dripping textures; human fragility and sci-fi sound-design.

From 0 to 90 was recorded over the duration of a week at the end of 2019. Working in their own self-constructed studio, Piuroux and Dubois set about creating a record relatively lighter and quieter than their live performances. Stacking textures, landscapes, structures and “lots of objects hitted with stuffs of all kinds”, the album traces the evolution of living beings - the numbers of its title refer to the angles at which organic life has been orientated, from crawling to standing. “We have passed through different shapes, landscapes and elements (a wispy swamp, an aquarium, a wet skate park, a thick cloud, a medieval kennel…),” they write.

Spending much of their musical career more visible in concert than in recording, Humbros have experienced - and reflected on the theory and the form of - the live performance as a medium since their inception. They have performed in a multitude of concert formats: nightclubs, village halls, an empty highway bridge, abandoned factories, art galleries, vineyard cellars, festivals and across France’s vibrant network of DIY venues. Their first recorded works - the self-recorded demo Night of the Toacas - emerged on Bandcamp in 2018 and immediately caught the ear of Phantom Limb’s A&R department.

From 0 to 90’s will be released in July, 2020

Humbros - Bois Debout [radio edit]

Immersion I & II

Not on Label
Digi & CD
Release on 9/4

Drums : Hikari Sakashita
Sax : Pueru Kim
Electronics : Kouhei Fukuzumi
Mixing & Mastering : Yui Kimijima
Recorded at Tsubame Studio, Tokyo, July 2020

Hikari Sakashita, Pueru Kim, Kouhei Fukuzumi - Immersion [Preview]

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tracklist:

Merlin Nova - You're On Your Own
GRRL - Isolation / The Depths (Intro)
JG Biberkopf - Black Soil
Laurel Halo - Hot Style
Robin Stewart - Penny
Tenebral Cortex - Flagellate
The Golden Palominos - You Are Never Ready
Sully - Assembly 1
TYGAPAW - Get Free Intro
Glass - Appointment Scheduling System
Thrax - NOT
Ivy - wet-or-just-rly-cold
Deli Girls - Here We Go Again
Make 'Em - Se Liga ne Pista Riddim
Roy Batty Jr. - Elastic Scream
Max Winter - Aporia
Simo Cell & Abdullah Miniawy - Weed In The Freezer
Amor Satyr & Siu Mata - Nah
Hyph11E - Get Out From Under
Brain Rays & Quiet - Ataru Flip
The Bug - Around Me (feat.Dis Fig)
Rojin Sharafi - Spray and Pray
estoc - YOU DON'T MEAN NOTHIN AT ALL (NELLY FURTADO X THE BODY)
Seeded Vision - The Passage
Jessica Boston & Desert - To The Magic Garden

Deep Scan Radio 118 - con pani

☆

by @specialguest-dj

booking inquiries 💌 refillmadness@gmail.com

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3XL

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