Stephen James Buckley’s work as Polypores has always pecked at the heels of otherworldliness, crafting rich soundcapes that bloom from nowhere: insistent arpeggios and staggered melodies that sprout thorns and seep honey. His craft is honed to the point that it’s all flawlessly integrated and deeply hypnotic on his latest opus, ‘There Are Other Worlds’. It’s further evidence (as if any were needed) that Buckley is a wizard of unmeasurable skill.

As a label, we have always loved working with Stephen. Always unpredictable and a majestic live performer. We always try to match the beauty of Stephen’s music on CiS releases and as usual, “There are Other Worlds” has been given the deluxe treatment with stunning artwork from Nick Taylor and a beautiful heavyweight pressing from our secret weapon pressing plant.

“The seeds of this album were planted in April 2023 and as is often the case, germinated through a combination of various environments and my own somewhat unmanageable imagination. I’d become hyperfixated on the idea of Alternate Reality Games, and the way that through what are essentially acts of play, a person can experience a degree of brain-change. A form of magic. We can all experience other worlds.

“I was particularly obsessed with Joseph Matheny’s Ong’s Hat project, and the Incunabula Catalog of rare and deeply weird books concerning conspiracy theory, frontier science, and alternate worlds. I was walking around the suburbs and countryside, in something of a daze, just living in that reality where interdimensional portals were being opened by psychedelic scientists and quantum hippies. There were so many possibilities. What if these gateways could exist anywhere? What if I followed a magpie down a wormhole that existed in a patch of dandelions?

“My immediate environment was changed. Everything had potential. There was magic in the mundane. There was beauty everywhere, you just had to look properly. Everything was exciting and charged with power. I went to Other Worlds, which were hiding all along, in the most unlikely places.

“The album title is inspired by a Sun Ra track from my favourite of his albums, Languidity. The music was created in my home studio during April/May 2023, using a Eurorack modular, a Dreadbox Erebus synthesizer, and an EHX Memory Man delay pedal. The field recordings were taken whilst walking. Additional vocalizations by a magpie, and some whistling by Helen Buckley.”