Mute artist Pole’s current release Fading, came out on November 6th. The album, is the first record by the German glitch progenitor Stefan Betke since 2015’s Wald and follows Mute’s recent reissue of his trilogy 1 2 3.Fading is loosely inspired by the concept of memory, something Betke had to unfortunately confront while witnessing his mother’s struggle with dementia. He reconciles this with the understanding that while our own memories are not guaranteed, every being on Earth leaves something behind.

Pole’s Stefan Betke on “Drifting:”

“For the opening track, “Drifting”, there is the idea of a whole lifespan that starts pretty empty and it gets fuller and then it ends with this kind of bell sound in the background. Or ‘Fading’, the last track, deals with the idea of fading away and disappearing slowly. But you always leave something. You leave a feeling or an image or an atmosphere. Everybody who lives leaves something on this earth.”

Betke imbued Fading with this understanding by incorporating faint elements of the 1 2 3 trilogy’s aesthetic while pushing to further explore his own creative limits. This approach, he says, “is a little bit of a sign from me, as my history is fading away slowly too.”