It all takes place in what is essentially a glorified tent, ringed with 12 huge speakers and a network of light bars.
Polygon Live is a three-day EDM, ambient sound and techno festival.
Its raison d’être is a 360 spatial sound system, which uses five times the usual number of concert speakers.
The festival promises to transform Crystal Palace Park in South London into a “multisensory playground”. The “multi” senses are presumably light and sound, and the organic waft of the fungal-infused tea sold on site.
Polygon Live’s Saturday lineup begins with American DJ Photay delivering the day’s most interesting and sonically diverse set.
In nods to ’90s video games and the vague fungal theme of Polygon Live festival – there were pink tutus of ruffled fungi affixed to the poles of the tent – one early track sounded like Star Wars birds, chirping lazors of sound and beats which twittered from all around the tentdome, overlaid with breezy synth violins.
Swivelling lights like crazed rolling eyes lit the recessed stage, and luminous green and blue infused the tubes like blood in veins.
The set started ambient, with everyone sitting or lying on the dank, flattened grass with soft golden lights filtering from above like sunbeams through trees.
Gradually, though, the crest of people rose and formed a frothing dancefloor.
The thick fuzzy bass was punctuated by chinks of high-pitched sound like sonically-heightened raindrops on metal.
The surround-sound became a chorus of teeming synth birds, overlaid by ferocious drum beats.
Heavy, messy beats blew in from the sides as a saxophone trumpeted down from on high.
Then, Photay’s beats would turn liquid, dribbling round the sides of the sound dome, punctured by splinters of smashed electronics.
The track ended on a sparking, high-pitched synth vibrating around the dome like glitching magic.
A different piece relied on an Indian beat and a schizophrenic-sounding xylophone, one moment softly atmospheric, in the next, frenzied.
Photay’s music was destined for Polygon Live’s spatial music experience.
The variety of popping, clicking and thumping sound across the speakers added further texture to an already fantastically interesting set.
DJ Photay at Polygon Live was a revelation.
All hail the future of surround-sound DJ sets, tailored to space.
Feature image: Leah Renz
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