Track: Pom Poko release new single, ‘Andrew’

The Norwegian punk-pop extraordinaires’ creative wizardry, very much cemented with their astounding debut LP Birthday, continues with new single Andrew. The single allows a welcome sense of familiarity with it’s fusion of dulcified vocal and guitar melodies, combined with their unique rhythmic sensibilities and galvanic ruptures. However, Andrew also signals a massively creative leap into a new real, for an already crazily creative band, going into their next album. The band experiment here with a wondrous start-stop type rhythm, while Ragnhild’s lyrical direction is pointedly ‘nursery rhyme-like’ (as is the directly impactful music) yet still incredibly ethereal: “Andrew, look how it all surrounds you”.

The group, whose debut album earned them two nominations for the Norwegian Grammy Awards (Spellemannprisen) and The Nordic Music Prize, will release their second album Cheater later this year. The wonky, effervescent shards of Martin Tonne’s guitar work was the enthralling element which made a wealth of Pom Poko tracks so enjoyable. Andrew exemplifies this further, but quite dissimilarly in style, with Tonne’s stuttering, jazzy guitar goodness emitting everything but the expected (the band’s modus operandi). This ‘expect the unexpected’ description will surely be an aura surrounding the forthcoming Cheater, with vocalist Ragnhild elaborates on it’s recording process, saying: “I think we aimed more for some sort of contrast between the meticulously written and arranged songs and a more chaotic execution and recording, but also let ourselves explore the less frantic parts of the Pom Poko universe. I think both in the more extreme and painful way, and in the sweet and lovely way, this album is kind of amplified.”

The band recorded Cheater‘s material at the same time as previously released Leg Day and Praise, two stupendously raucous singles, during which they proffered an alternative approach to the main songwriting approach of their debut; choosing instead not to refine their tracks before going into the studio. Vocalist Ragnhild, speaking on this change, explains that “That meant we had to practice the songs in a more serious way, but it also meant the songs had more potential to change when we recorded them since we didn’t have such a clear image of what each song should/could be as the last time.” This, undoubtedly, will make for an astonishing second album, promising as many surprises as their predecessor.

Listen to Andrew here