Polyphia: Renaissance [EQUAL VISION]

Why you'll love it

Renaissance was the band's first album for Equal Vision and pushed their shred-heavy roots toward pop, hip hop and EDM. "Euphoria," "Light" and "Culture Shock" set the template for everything since.

This edition

• Equal Vision Records edition
• Printed insert

About the album

Polyphia started out covering classical pieces on YouTube, which is a very polite way to begin a career in guitar music. The Plano, Texas band took their name from polyphony, music built from interweaving melodic lines, and by their second album that idea was the whole point.

Tim Henson and Scott LePage trade lines that flicker between clean pop phrasing and dazzling runs, with Clay Gober on bass and Brandon Burkhalter on drums. Signed to Equal Vision after their debut Muse charted, they used Renaissance to lean further into pop, hip hop and EDM. "Culture Shock" opens with a bang, "Light" and "Florence" sparkle, "Bittersweet" and "Ivory" slow the pulse, and "Euphoria" closes on a high. Twelve instrumentals, no singer required. Henson has said pop and rap inspire him as much as any guitar hero, and you can hear it in every hook.

It set them on the road to New Levels New Devils and Remember That You Will Die, and to sharing stages with Periphery and Between the Buried and Me. It's the sort of record that makes guitarists practise harder and everyone else quietly put theirs back in the case.

Also at Kops: more Polyphia on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Equal Vision (cat# EVR318), a reissue of the 2016 album.