Polyphonic Exophilia – “Make Truth Dangerous Again”

Polyphonic Exophilia – “Make Truth Dangerous Again” – Single Review

We all go through these incredible bursts of inspiration & creativity at times.  Sometimes we go through so many late nights & early mornings, we don’t even realize how many paintings we’ve painted, or how many songs we’ve put out into the world, or how many articles we’ve written, because we’re locked into the moment, doing what we truly love to do, as we should be.  Those times are great, and they should be celebrated without a doubt.  That being said, if we’re not too careful, we can oversaturate our own special corner of the creative realm – and as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

All I want in life are moments like I had earlier this month, like when I clicked on the new single from Polyphonic Exophilia, heard them start to play, and immediately felt like it had been too long since I’d last heard their music.  That’s the sweet spot right there…where it feels like you’re reconnecting with an old friend…the place where the music comes on, and you’re truly excited to hear whatever comes next.

Our beloved band of proud Jazz mutants based out of Norway are really never all that far away from our thoughts and playlists though.  It was just earlier this year that they took part in our most recent interview spree – and please, please, PLEASE CLICK HERE if you haven’t read what they had to say yet, because to be quite honest with ya, you will be SMARTER by the end of reading their responses.  You will have a firmer grasp on what creating real art and music is all about.  You will be inspired to be more daring with your own creativity.  I’m telling you all this is a fact, not an opinion.  We did a staggering total of thirty-eight interviews over the course of June and July this year, but if I was to be pressed for my favorite of the bunch, it came from these guys.  Polyphonic Exophilia, aka PPXP, get creativity in ways most never will.  But you already know that.  That’s why you had voted them in as our Best New Sound of the year back in 2021.

Make something something again – sound familiar?  If it doesn’t, believe me, I envy you.  The Orange Orangutan from down south has practically destroyed the FUN in our daily life, attempting to replace our joy with a constant stream of senseless drama that has tried to turn this planet into the sad and sickening plot of a reality television show.  As a species, we have so far largely proven to be completely inept to deal with such a threat so far.  Our politicians are useless to stop the madness.  Even some of the best people you probably know have come up short in finding the antidote to the current spread of hate, opting to do nothing instead of something, or becoming silent in the face of adversity.  Culturally, we’re now looking to the sources of truth we’ve always known to tell it to us straight – music, art, and comedy – the parts of life that have always factually documented who we are.  Fuck the news, it’s been bought and sold – you want grassroots anything right now, but not so far to the fringe that you end up listening to some idiot’s tinfoil hat podcast.  Our musicians, comedians, artists…these are the reputable sources that know their mission is to tell it like it is – but make no mistake, they’re more endangered than they’ve ever been before as well.  The cancellation of Stephen Colbert due to shameful corporate capitulation.  The gutting of The Kennedy Center’s meaningful programming, replacing it with a slate of substandard material that barely has a rudimentary understanding of what art is even supposed to be.  Musicians like Bruce Springsteen speak up in other countries, only to be bashed by their own when they return, or in extreme cases like that of The Boss, are told they might not even be able to come home.  Yes – we’re in trouble like we haven’t seen in a very long time…and unfortunately, this is far from over.

So what’s the answer, you ask?  How do we…survive this hideous and perilous existential threat?

Polyphonic Exophila answers:  “Make Truth Dangerous Again.”

“If you can hear this, you are the resistance now.”  PPXP is here to remind us that the powers that be can only take our joy from us if we choose to LET them.  They HATE the truth.  They HATE resistance.  They HATE your happiness.  It’s true!  But what they HATE more than anything else, is not being in control – of YOU.  Poet Toi Derricotte put it best when she popularized the idea of “joy as an act of resistance” (and props to IDLES for naming one of their albums after that concept as well) – it’s the best tool we have in our arsenal – and Polyphonic Exophilia has created an anthem that speaks to the heart of this concept with “Make Truth Dangerous Again.”  Guided by an introduction that outlines the mission as it begins with guerilla-radio style narration at the start, you can hear the seriousness in what this Jazz collective has set out to create, but you can also hear the unbreakable JOY they display in every element of their music.  A sonic litmus test of their own design, they go on to explain that “those who move with the groove are your friends.  Those who stand still are the emperor’s dogs.”  No lies detected here.  I think what they’re stating is truth that you can FEEL right inside your soul.  You listen to a track like “Make Truth Dangerous Again” and you know that the joy you love to experience is still there inside you – it’s been desperately searching for a way to come back to the surface and be the dominant trait of who you are.  We’re all being oppressed or suppressed these days, either by force or by choice, knowingly or unknowingly…and when you hear the pure freedom of expression in a song like “Make Truth Dangerous Again,” it’s like fuel for the tank y’all…it’s the audible confirmation we all need right now to know that we cannot, and will not ever, be broken.  No amount of hate, misinformation, politics, or relentless cycles of negativity will make us conform to its combination being presented to us as the ‘new normal’ – FUCK THAT.  We get ONE life to live.  Buy every one of the books they want to ban.  Knowledge is the real superpower.  Support artists.  Dance.  Sing.  Create.  Do your part to celebrate JOY, as an act of resistance.

I could tell you all the wonderful things you already know about Polyphonic Exophilia.  Obviously their new single is well played, it’s ambitious in its massive length, and it’s every bit as fun to listen to as you’ve probably come to expect from the music the PPXP collective has continued to make year after year.  More than anything else though, this is a case of what “Make Truth Dangerous Again” symbolizes.  I could go on and on and on about how important I feel like this song is, but suffice it to say, we are finally starting to crest the wave of fuckery that has been crashing over the planet over this past decade, and the resistance to hate is really starting to make itself known.  We’ve all been exhausted by watching the USA in moral decline as it morphs into Gilead, no matter what part of the world we’ve been living in.  The best kept secret of all though, is that we don’t HAVE to play by their rules.  They cannot take our JOY if we do not let them.  We do not HAVE to give Fuckface Forty-Seven the attention he’s craving – but we also have to continue to be bold in the face of his attempted oppression.  We have to “Make Truth Dangerous Again” – because they HATE the fact that they cannot destroy our JOY, unless we let them.  Continue to create.  Continue to make art.  Continue to speak out.  Continue to make amazing music like what you hear in this song from PPXP.  Stand for something.  Joy as an act of resistance.  This is the way.

Be like Polyphonic Exophilia, and do what you can to create the change we need from the place you are in with the skillset & creativity you have.  Do not be afraid to make good trouble for all the right reasons.  Embrace empathy, love, patience & understanding.  Set out to “Make Truth Dangerous Again” – because sunlight is not only the best disinfectant, but because it also gives the darkness no place for it to hide.  This new single from PPXP is an audible metaphor for HOPE.  A sonic beacon of our unwavering JOY.  A song that confirms our UNBREAKABLE spirit.  And it’s a moment that reminds us that all is not yet lost.

I’ll have more to say about this song when the SBS Podcast finally makes its return next month, and you’ll be able to hear it for yourself when it comes out on August 1^st.  Until that time arrives, circle the date, revere the amazing artwork above provided by Håkon Holm Olsen, and ready your battle stations to “Make Truth Dangerous Again” as we collectively tell Tangerine Palpatine to get fucked once & for all.

Find out more about Polyphonic Exophilia from their official website at:  https://ppxp.no

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