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Drum & Grace: Polica Live in Seattle

Posted by Nada Staff August 17th, 2012 No Comments »

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Polica @ Neumos
Friday, August 18, 2012
By Sam Hardy 

Like many pop acts today, POLIÇA (pronounced POH-lee-SUH) are a mixture of influences. Listen to their single “Dark Star” and you hear the thumping keyboards and walloping trumpets from any mid-90s R&B or funk artist. The track “Amongster,” on the other hand, opens with a buzzing, humming guitar more reminiscent of an experimental post-rock instrumental.

That’s not to say that the Minneapolis group—who perform August 17 at Neumo’s—are derivative or unoriginal. It’s just hard not to make immediate comparisons given this band’s broad sonic palette.

Example: lead singer Channy Leaneagh’s electronically distorted words immediately call to mind Bon Iver: On some tracks her voice is augmented to the point where her wails are just another instrument behind the fat, booming beats of drummers Drew Christopherson and Ben Ivascu. Other times she’s farther forward in the mix, reciting simple lyrics like “Not my child…not my child,” which immediately thrust the listener into the middle of a sad story.

It’s these emotional moments where POLIÇA’s 11-song debut LP Give You The Ghost really shines. Leaneagh’s recent divorce with Romi De Luna bandmate Alexei Moon imbue the album with the complex melancholy present in any powerful breakup record. On tracks like “Lay Your Cards Out” (featuring Mike Noyce of the aforementioned Bon Iver), Leaneagh closes by repeating the solemn refrain, “I am waiting,” before the track dissolves into a pair of angry drum solo—almost drowning her out completely.

This unique brew of mournful cries and bass-driven drums hasn’t gone unnoticed: POLIÇA find themselves on a 26-city headlining tour this fall and on a new label, Mom+Pop Music. Check out their re-release of Give You The Ghost alongside an EP featuring remixes from the album, out now.