Poliça – Shulamith – Mom + Pop

Sometimes it is almost impossible to make out what on earth Poliça are singing about – but their music itself proves to be pretty difficult to resist. It is firmly rooted in the eighties, but on this second album the band sound more confident in what they do. Certainly the single ‘Chain My Name’ takes root in your head for days, in a very subtle assault on the memory, but elsewhere there are slinky grooves to be had as well. One of these is ‘Very Cruel’, which adds a bit of weight to its percussion, while the slower ‘Tiff’ has massive beats that feature Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and the stop-start ‘Trippin’ works well too. At the heart of it all is Channy Leaneagh’s very distinctive voice, an ideal vehicle for these slightly disembodied songs. So while they might lose a point for their incomprehensible lyrics, Poliça ensure the abundance of ultra-cool electronica going on around more than makes up for it.

4 out of 5

Reviewed By Ben Hogwood