July 2000
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MUSIC:
Di Hard is a medium tempo groove with rapped and sung vocals, everything done by Polar except for exquisite backing vocals by Scott Parker Allen and Sabina Sciubba. The song is a comment on Princess Di's demise, the role of the media, and the times we live in, serious without becoming sentimentalized or preachy. An interesting exercise in a style that's very hard to pull off. We hear stylistic nods to Innervisions, Sugar Hill and Paisley Park, yet it's an entirely original project, taken from the polarity/1 CD Yankin' The Food Chain.
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RECORDING:
This is a very good recording. Beyond just "good" in some respects. Let's list a few ingredients to give you a better picture. The synth bass speaks with basically one voice, that of a slightly chorused sawtooth filter sweep resulting in "syllables" like "ouwah" and "awou" placed sparingly but effectively almost throughout. Drums and percussion show variety that supports the song. So does the voice.
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COMMENTS:
We'd like to hold this track up as an example of several successful techniques: Vocal treatment, drum programming, track building, using eq as a dynamic tool -- do we have all day? No, but we'll do our best.
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Polar has many ways of dressing up a voice, depending on the demands of the song. He starts rapping in a slightly ghostly tone, band filtered -- no real lows or highs, a bit like a telephone effect. And it suits the ghastly facts he reports about the death of Princess Di. That voice changes when he sings the second verse, in a fuller but still edgy tone. By the time he is joined by the background vocals in a soulful interlude, the tone is full, warm, rich. And this develops in a patient and subtle way over time -- Polar doesn't jump from effect to effect, he knows how to "work the line like a good fisherman works the catch."
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His drums are very sparse and standard at first, but he gradually adds more percussive elements, some of them defying traditional description, that build to a complex pattern, increasing the tension of the song where needed. And when he goes back to the basic kick/snare pattern, it's no let-down because that pattern alone holds up well. Again, he doesn't give away what he's about to do, and when the change occurs, it feels right because the song demands it.
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The song has so many segments, from sparse to complex, that it reads like a book. Tension, release, suspense, it's all there, yet none of the quieter moments feel weak, they are part of an overall plan that simply works.
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The volume changes are interesting in that they certainly do occur from segment to segment, yet the last section is not simply the loudest. Opening up the spectrum with eq from band-limited to full sound has the effect of pushing up the volume (of course, it does increase the amplitude), but Polar makes us believe he pushed up the volume faders for dramatic effect when other things are at work. Very effective.
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SUMMARY
It's obvious that Polar draws on years of creative experiences as a performance artist, instrumentalist, builder of songs with samples and found sounds, choir member, etc. These experiences have come together to allow him to construct this song that works like a well conceived play where each actor has his/her moves precisely outlined.