Richard D. James’s Polygon Window project ought to be known as his “Qu…” phase. The tracklisting for Surfing on Sine Waves had brought us Quoth, which had been deservedly released as a single. The album’s final two tracks were Quixote and Quino - Phec. The former sounds like a dance party taking place in a gymnasium, with us almost able to feel the mental calculations made by the attendees as they weigh up who to make approaches to on the dancefloor, and then the beat picks up as people hit the floor and try to make eye contact or beguile others with their moves. Quino - Phec captures an after the party feeling as the gym echoes to the sound of the clearup, coupled with both the dashed hopes of those who didn’t manage to pull, and the dreamy vibes of those who are lost in the kisses of others. For them, tonight may herald either a memorable one-off or the beginnings of a life-long love affair. Quixote is the sound of the effort - unrequited or otherwise - being put in.
Given James’s love of unconventional track titles, I checked to see whether Quixote had any meaning as a word, given that I only knew it as the title of a book and always assumed that the lead character was called Mr. Quixote. I was today years old when I learned that Quixote means someone who is an idealist. If my gymnasium dance party reading of Quixote seems wide of the mark, then it could be that the meaning of the track is on a universal truth about the residents of Cornwall. Namely, that we don’t tilt at windmills, but an unholy number of us get upset about wind farms.
Video courtesy of God Bless Electronic Music
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