In Emma Pollock’s Loop: Rachel’s “Music For Egon Schiele”

To those who loved them, Glasgow, Scotland’s Delgados were the near-perfect blend of churning, indie-rock edginess and stirring, girl/boy vocals, wrapped in gasp-inducing orchestral arrangements that made time stand still. A tough act for vocalist/guitarist Emma Pollock to follow, you might think, when the band split amicably in 2006. And yet, Pollock’s ’07 solo debut, Watch The Fireworks, wasted no time in identifying how crucial she had been to the unique sound of the Delgados. Three years later, the former physics major returns with The Law Of Large Numbers (Chemikal Underground), which goes down like a couple of dry martinis after a savory meal, welcoming you to Pollock’s expanding universe of sound. Pollock will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with her.

Pollock: Rachel’s Music For Egon Schiele is an album that I keep on coming back to, years after I first discovered it. I can’t even remember now how I discovered it, but thankfully I did. It’s a completely unique album in my collection and one that occupies a very different space in my head. I don’t listen to a great deal of “classical” music as such, as I prefer a more contemporary sound, but sometimes you do come across a more classical instrumentation or arrangement which bends the rules and takes risks in the ways that more contemporary music does, and I think this album demonstrates that combination perfectly. I’m absolutely blown away by the writing of these compositions, the wonderful chord shapes and melodic progressions and absolute command that the music has as a result. It’s a very pure sound, very inspirational and devastatingly emotive to me. To write music this powerful, but in my case with vocal melody added, would be a real achievement for me. I went to see Rachel’s play once at the CCA in Glasgow. It was a very intense show. No one spoke for the entire performance. It was quite unforgettable. Read more about Rachel’s. Video after the jump.