''In Prism'' is Polvo's fifth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, and their first since 1997's '' Shapes''. It was recorded by Brian Paulson and was released on

Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expand ...

on September 8, 2009. The track "Beggar's Bowl" was streamed online.

Reception

''In Prism'' received a

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

score of 79 based on 14 reviews, indicating a generally favorable critical reception. Jason Lymangrover of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

writes: "Polvo's first studio album since 1997's Shapes, 2009's In Prism is a solid return to mathy form. Although 12 years is a long hiatus, it's hardly noticeable that time has passed, with the exception of a few machinery and personnel updates ..Along with getting mathy and ultra-precise, the band takes the opposite approach and elongates passages, stretching songs into psychedelic

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

territory and surpassing the eight-minute mark on several occasions. As an album, In Prism may not quite live up to the explosiveness of Today's Active Lifestyles -- it's more like the calmer (and produced) Shapes. But even if it's not their best ever, it's a valid comeback that should appease longing fans." Despite a middling score, John Everheart of ''Under the Radar'' called it "a sprawling, psychedelic masterwork, rife with knotty tangles of discordance and serpentine riffs." Stuart Berman of

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

wrote: "''In Prism'' could be the first Polvo album where the melodies leave as lasting an impression as the noise around them, with Bowie tapping into a more guileless mode of expression that rarely revealed itself before."

Track listing

#"Right the Relation" - 5:36 #"D.C. Trails" - 6:57 #"Beggar's Bowl" - 5:01 #"City Birds" - 5:21 #"Lucia" - 8:15 #"Dream Residue/Work" - 5:48 #"The Pedlar" - 3:37 #"A Link in the Chain" - 8:47

Personnel

Polvo are credited as the primary artists & producers. The remaining credits are adapted from

: * Chris Eubank - Cello * River Guerguerian - Percussion * Brian Paulson - Engineer, Mixing, Producer * Alan Douches - Mastering * Julian Dreyer - Assistant Engineer * Michael Klayman - Photography * Ashley Worley - Photography * Gordon Zacharias - Photography

References

{{Authority control Polvo albums 2009 albums