It’s hard to imagine deeply melodic and driving progressive beats pulsing out of a television show displaying lusty blonde nurses and chiseled Adonis surgeons shagging one another relentlessly all over a chic L.A. hospital but if you have caught the cult series ‘Nip/Tuck’ then more than likely you would have raised an eyebrow at the soundtrack. Belgium’s most prolific proprietor of progressive, Benoit Franquet aka Pole Folder, features heavily on the show and it’s testament to both his talent and the growth of progressive that the majority of his debut artist album was used for the show. “The producers of that show just took the original versions of ‘Zero Gold’ but for the moment I have all my freedom to compose and produce what I want”.

It’s quite an enviable position for the producer who in the last 5 years has shot from relative obscurity to become one of progressive house music’s most forward thinking producers. Cast your cranium back to 2001 and John Digweed’s era defining, genre defying Global Underground Los Angeles Mix. Truly a watershed for house music it was a mix that stripped bloated late 90’s trance of its pretension and drew on the darker atmospherics of ambient techno and primal funk of tribal house to rock dance floors. At the very beginning of this mix was Pole Folder and CP’s mesmerizing ‘Apollo Vibes’ which ushered in the post epic progressive movement with crackling voice transmissions and a pulsing cosmic rhythms. It was a moment Pole Folder remembers as something of a zeitgeist and credits UK legend Digweed with catapulting him into a career in dance music. “The exposure that John gave me has been (largely) responsible for my career to date. By giving me the chance to release my first album on his label (the ground breaking and seminal Bedrock) and to produce several singles”, says Franquet. “He gave me worldwide exposure and also the possibility to express myself without boundaries”.

Pole Folder’s debut ‘Zero Gold’ dropped in 2005 and was somewhat of a surprise considering Pole Folders knack for twisting heads in side out. A sublimely melodic piece with some tracks adhering to an almost ‘pop’ formula, it featured an array of vocalists (including the efferfessant Kirsty Hawkshaw) and upon repeated listens sounded emotionally intimate. Was it cathartic? “I can’t think about myself without making music”, Franquet muses. “It’s always been a way to express my inner desires and thoughts. Maybe I’m too enthusiastic or radical in my choices but I can’t be quiet or neutral. I think it’s an emotional commitment”. This process proved intensely exhaustive for Pole Folder but he remembers the experience as a more of a learning curve than arduous ordeal. “It was a long and stressful experience which was also an amazing turning point in my life. During those two years recording (Zero Gold) I dried to go as deep as I could mentally and technically into my production work”. But the process was well worth it in terms of the musical zenith achieved according to Franquet. “I was totally and deeply involved in the process because an album, for me, is the ultimate work for an artist”.

This year though Pole Folder is firmly focused on the dance floor with relentless touring of a new remix compilation. “Right now I’m producing a mix album which is closer to the dance scene than Zero Gold was and I am playing out a lot more, sometimes combining a live guitar and keyboard and incorporating those live elements into a DJ set”. Australia won’t experiance a live set but Pole Folder promises it will be ‘mental’. “I play really melodic house and techno with a drive to it. I want energy but I also want to take the brains on a journey”. Pole Folder is no novice either having played massive gigs all around the world but especially in his native Belgium. “I played in front of ten thousand people @City Parade in Belgium just after Felix Da Housecat and that was really impressive but my gigs at Pacha in Buenos Aires are always fantastic anxious experience”.

Pole Folder now commands his own dance floor after years warming up for his idols like Digweed and Sasha and his hectic schedule reflects it. Along with Europe and South America he has played Tokyo’s Womb and Zouk in Singapore but the only part of the life that bothers him is airport loitering. “Well most of the time the hardest thing for me is the waiting around in airports. I usually read a book or listen to music, maybe I’ll buy a laptop so I can produce on the road”. Ah, it’s a tough life but Pole Folder certainly isn’t complacent about his career or the state of the scene. “It’s such an exciting time with boundaries disappearing. As the genres are melting together you can play so many different styles in one night, going into all your influences”. And what does dance music mean to Pole Folder in one sentence. “Dance music is still for me what Formula 1 is to the car industry; a laboratory for the music”. Right then.

Pole Folder plays Sydney and Melbourne this weekend:

Jun 29 – onesixone, Melbourne
Jun 30 – Chinese Laundry, Sydney