Pole - 123

The Guardian 0

(Mute)
This reissue of Stefan Betke’s first three albums shows how the electronic auteur turned a technical glitch into an innovative, intimate and warm style

The lockdown has played havoc with album release schedules, sending new records by Haim, Rufus Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker and the Pretenders back several weeks. But adversity can create opportunity – or at least the chance to nerd out over a reissue by a little-known electronic auteur: Pole, the alias of German musician Stefan Betke.

Betke knows all about taking advantage of an opportunity, joining a long artistic tradition of making great art from mistakes. Just as Leonardo da Vinci famously instructed his students to study stains and blots for inspiration, and the Japanese pottery technique of kintsugi repairs broken earthenware with precious metals, creating beauty from a flaw, Pole turned his butterfingers into a masterstroke.