POLARITY | I CARE IF YOU LISTEN

Video Premiere: Pathos Trio performs “21600,” by Paul Mortilla

I CARE IF YOU LISTEN on August 25, 2023

In 21600, the new video from Pathos Trio produced by Four/Ten Media, an orange luminescence washes over a dim performance space where the trio — percussionists Marcelina Suchocka and Felix Reyes, and pianist Will Healy — paints a meditative instrumental ambience. But the neon lights, and the double percussion set, also suggest a pent-up intensity that is about to erupt into rhythmic interaction between the musicians.

Today on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN, we’re happy to premiere 21600, the latest collaboration between composer Paul Mortilla and Pathos — an unclassifiable contemporary trio that sits somewhere between the boundaries of classical, rock, synthwave, and jazz, creating intricate grooves and spacey atmospheres. 21600 appears on Pathos Trio’s second album, Polarity, which also features newly commissioned works by Ian Chang, Phong Tran, Andrew M. Rodriguez, Vicente Hansen Atria, and Clara Warnaar.

According to Mortilla’s notes, people tend to forget that the simple act of breathing is the most essential task we perform every day — the average person takes 21,600 breaths per day. And just like our breathing can become agitated or irregular, the bright energy of the piece’s opening finally bursts into an electronic keyboard vying against a diverse array of percussion instruments playing jagged rhythms. But the cathartic gushing eases down toward the end; like in the beginning, time slows down and you catch yourself breathing once again.

Here is what Pathos Trio would like you to know about 21600:

Serving as a successor to our first album, When Dark Sounds Collide, the commissions on Polarity seek to further push the boundaries of combining aesthetics of contemporary classical music with Pathos’ interests in dark, heavy, dense sounds that we find appealing from other genres, such as alternative rock, progressive/black metal, minimalist music, and electronic synthwave music, through the inclusion of electronic components to each piece on this album.

Specifically with Paul Mortilla’s 21600, this contemporary/jazz rock trio piece explores what happens when the ensemble enters into a rhythm and centers itself on a single focus of being still and listening, the result being an upwelling of energy and excitement that is always present.

Polarity is slated for release on Sept. 15 through Imaginary Animals.