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Show Review

The first thing worth noting is the fact that Polica do not front with a line-up we've ever seen in this interesting little indie-pop universe we bounce around in. There are no guitars, no keyboards...only two drummers, a bass player, and a singer. That's it...though we have read legend of a powerful sonic wizard hiding somewhere behind the curtain, triggering sounds and beats and mist and light. That of course is something we cannot confirm. All we know is, this inventive, somewhat mysterious Minneapolis collective is a self-described, "test-tube group", surgically put together by producer Ryan Olson to achieve a very specific vision.

That vision is dark and stormy. That vision is often sleek and sexy. That vision is dancy. That vision is also ripe with tension, as singer Channy Leaneagh recently told us. "We have this conflict between soft and smooth with obviously very harsh and intense sounds from two drummers and kind of some aggressive tones musically fighting with softer tones, sweeter sounding stuff". That vision is complex.

Back in June we had the chance to witness this cacophonous force when Polica invited us to capture a trio of tracks during a soundcheck held before a sold out performance at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg. In session, the dichotomy Leaneagh describes is easy to hear. The heavy filling, drum and bass are jagged, as Leaneagh's vocals dive bomb in and out like some beautiful attack. Balancing things out are the band's futuristic swells of synth...the man who may or may not be lurking behind the curtain, it seems. Under a haze of red, blue, and violet shadows, Polica bring a unique world of sound to life. Inhabit it for a moment in this, our mystical new session with the group.

Photos

Transcript

That, that, that, that season I want, want only see him

He say no, no he be teasing Then he call back to come and see him

I was ready to die alone I was ready to die alone

I was ready to die alone Are you ready to die alone

That, that, that, that reason Don't go, go, go and see him

But I know, know that I need him And me, you guarantee it

I was ready to die alone I was ready to die alone

I was ready to die alone Are you ready to die alone

When you finally make it home I'll be ready to freak and moan

coming off of the x and o's crawling out of your skin and bones

When you finally make it home I'll be ready to freak and moan

coming off of the x and o's crawling out of your skin and bones

Slay me

That, that, that, that season I want, want only see him

Barely touch, touch and now it's steaming

Think it's dead cold but now it's beating

I was ready to die alone I was ready to die alone

I was ready to die alone Are you ready to die alone

That that, that, that reason Don't go, go, go and see him

Don't talk, talk about cheating It's a hard fall and let me leave it

I was ready to die alone I was ready to die alone

I was ready to die alone Are you ready to die alone

When you finally make it home I'll be ready to freak and moan

coming off of the x and o's crawling out of your skin and bones

When you finally make it home I'll be ready to freak and moan

coming off of the x and o's crawling out of your skin and bones

Slay me, darling, darling, I believe that I, yeah

darling yeah, darling yeah, darling yeah I believe that I am, yeah

darling oh, darling yeah, darling oh, I believe that I am, yeah

darling oh, darling yeah, darling oh, I believe that I'm in love

When you finally make it home I'll be ready to freak and moan

When you finally make it home I'll be ready to freak and moan

coming off of the x and o's crawling out of your skin and bones

Slay me yeah, slay me

aggravated in a positive way, just by the amount of sound coming out of our band, like, two drummers and bass are very stimulating to me as a performer and will get me excited.

We play off of each other and kind of go back and forth. I also come from... before I sang, I did theater, and I like theater.

We all enjoy thinking about the performance as creating a world on stage and kind of making our music come alive is important to all of us and to have fun on stage and to make it worth our time as well.

You know, to get something out of it personally.

Polica's music kind of marries that as well, because we have this conflict between sort of soft and smooth with obviously, very harsh, intense sounds from two drummers and kind of some aggressive tones fighting, musically fighting, with softer tones, sweeter kind of sounding stuff.

- The record, the title of the record and the subject matter of the record is coming from this perspective of, or coming from being a woman or like, the brutality, the kind of gruesomeness of being a woman, the dichotomy between beautification and blood and that carries through a woman's life until she dies, and kind of the conflict between those two.

How my lips been tightly sealed How my hands and feet been bound

Must have liked all your reprimands Look at me cowering now

See I meet a lot of women And they tell me that I'm strong

When I leave the stage to find you Why you make me think they're wrong

Believe me gonna find a man who loves me

like I do, like I did to you

Gonna find a man, who loves me like I do, like I did to you

See I want a friend to be with Well, I like a soul that's true

Sweet words to fill the days and darkness

Loving kindness, loving kindness

How my lips been tightly sealed How my hands and feet been bound

Must have liked all your reprimands Look at me cowering now

See I meet a lot of women And they tell me that I'm strong

When I leave the stage to find you Why you make me think they're wrong

Believe me gonna find a man who loves me

like I do, like I did to you

Gonna find a man, who loves me like I do, like I did to you

Like a man to make me do

And I like a friend to be with And I like a soul that's true

Sweet words to fill the days and darkness, inner weakness

Loving kindness, loving kindness, yeah

We were kind of put together by our producer, Ryan Olson, him and Channy were writing tracks together and they wanted to get a heavy-hitting rhythm team behind them, so they asked me to play bass and Ben and Drew to play the double drum kits.

- He is kind of like the leader, in the sense that he builds the sounds that the rest of us react to.

We're all influenced by, I think, really different music and then we're also very much influenced by each other.

Chris and I play off of each other a lot.

If I lay down a vocal line onto a track and then Chris lays bass over it, it'll often happen that I will re-record vocals based on what the bass and drums do on top of my vocals and I'm kind of reacting back to them.

So we are greatly inspired, I think, or largely inspired by each other and by kind of this assembly line of reaction and kind of a collaging off of each other.

- I think Polica is a band that is a good representation of what goes on in the scene in Minneapolis.

- We all played music in Minneapolis in different bands and saw each other playing in those bands and small scene.

- Because everyone's kind of interested in what everyone else is doing and very supportive really and we like to collaborate, you know, I know so many people who are in four or five bands and so, I mean, when you're kind of spreading yourself out across a bunch of different genres, really exciting things can happen.

I grew out of a noise punk band and now I'm playing electronic double-drum synth stuff.

You hold me like this you hold me like this

Leave the night to the sky Darling, what do you miss

You hold me like this you hold me like this

Darkness, hold me Lightness, fight this

Darkness, hold me Lightness, fight this

Mine's a heart you can't keep Oh no heart can't keep

Mine's a time you can't find All your ways are cheap

You hustled on the wrong street Now we know your true love's greed

Too fine to forget, too fine to forget Too fine to forget me

Too fine to forget, too fine to forget Too fine to forget me

Take hold like you Take hold like you

Take hold like you Like you want this

Darkness, hold me Lightness, fight this

Darkness, won't you hold me Lightness, won't you fight this

Take hold like you Take hold like you

Take hold like you Like you want this

Artist Bio

Minnesota natives Ryan Olson and Channy Leaneagh play dreamy electronica with a penchant for autotune. Founded in 2011, they have released one album, Give Up The Ghost, which was met with critical acclaim.

Editorial