Formless/Functional
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| Formless/Functional | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 24, 1998 | |||
| Studio | Flowers Studio | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, indie rock | |||
| Label | Interscope Records | |||
| Producer | Ed Ackerson | |||
| Polara chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
| Trouser Press | (positive) [2] |
| babysue | [3] |
Formless/Functional is a 1998 album by Minneapolis alternative rock band Polara, their third full-length album and their last for Interscope Records.
Despite a generally warm reception by critics, the album received little support from its record label. Corporate mergers involving Interscope soon led the label to drop many bands, including Polara.[4]
Trouser Press writer Ira Robbins described the album as "frisky electro-dance" that moved Polara's sound "into the rhythmatic post-guitar realm of synthesizers, loops and samples," and noted that Jurgens' contributions to the band were especially prominent. Although he felt that "the album goes on a bit too long," Robbins called it "stylish and sophisticated" and said that songwriter and producer Ed Ackerson's "creativity is no less colorful or effective in this realm."[2] Jason Anderson of Allmusic wrote that Ackerson's "ability to completely ignore stylistic boundaries is admirable," but felt that the album did not have a cohesive theme and "sounds thrown together and random."[1] A reviewer for the online magazine babysue praised the album's mix of introspective pop and electronic production, calling it "completely cool" and "absolutely beautiful."[3]