Hear the eerie, arresting, co-composed electro-orchestral pop from Minneapolis electro band POLIÇA and Berlin new-music outfit stargaze, led by conductor André de Ridder. The two groups have worked together since the 2015-2016 season, in a “virtual residence,” commissioned by Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music series. They have arranged and adapted Steve Reich’s Music for Pieces of Wood as well as co-creating their latest, a long-form work inspired by ideas and themes in James Kunstler's book The Long Emergency.

On their 2018 record Music For the Long Emergency, sweeps of strings, French horn, flute and oboe, along with synth bass, industrial electro-percussion, and jarring electronic textures are arrayed in support of often electronically-altered vocal lines. Hear some of this music, in-studio, which Poliça frontwoman Channy Leaneagh describes in National Sawdust Log as “not a pill to swallow that calms us down.” (From the Archives, 2018.)

Read more about the long-distance collaborative romance via this interview in the National Sawdust Log.

Watch the 2018 session: