Turning
thirty years old today is Surfing On Sine Waves by Polygon Window,
which was released on January 11th, 1993. Polygon Window was a
pseudonym used by Richard D. James, better known as Aphex Twin.
Chronologically, it could be considered his second full length album,
coming on the heels of the debut Aphex Twin album, Selected Ambient
Works 85-92.
Recorded at Llannerlog Studios, Cornwall, the
album pays tribute to James’ home town in a number of ways. The cover
photo is of Chapel Porth beach, where James spent time with his sisters
as a child; James thanks the seaside village in the liner notes. Bonus
track titles like Redruth School references James's alma mater, and
"Portreath Harbour" references the Cornwall port. The title for the
album was conceived by Warp founder and friend Rob Mitchell after James
mentioned that "loads of people I knew growing up in Cornwall were poser
surfers and I didn't wanna hang around with them." With all that, the
album has a lot of sentimental connections to James’ roots.
Musically,
the album seems to straddle his rhythmic "ambient" works, similar to
those featured on the debut Aphex Twin album, with his more aggressive
style featured on numerous singles and EPs, as heard on the slamming
Quoth, which was released as a single itself. The album was issued as
the second part of Warp Records’ “Artificial Intelligence” series and
was a major success, yet James would only return to the Polygon Window
imprint once after the initial album/single with a 2001 12” release,
included as the aforementioned bonus tracks on a later reissue of
Surfing on Sine Waves. Since its release, it has become a critical item
in James’ sprawling catalogue and remains one of my personal favorites
from his early canon of work.
