More about: Pom Poko

Norwegian art-pop group Pom Poko release the wonderfully riotous Cheater this Friday (15 January). Packed full of angelic voices, funky bass tones and heavy guitar riffs, Cheater is a brilliantly mish-mashed blending of genres. 

Opening up the album is the titular ‘Cheater’. Effortlessly setting the mood and tone for the album, it pulls the listener in with its sharp, punk guitar tones, whilst the angelic and gliding vocals as delivered by vocalist Ragnhild Fangel keep you transfixed in the records expertly crafted, genre defying world. Following on from this is 'Like A Lady', with the harsh brash opening further defying any pre-conceptions the listener may have. The track, however, quickly makes way for a jangle-heavy, dreamy verse. The guitar tone switches drifts from light to heavy whist never losing the punk-tinged venom. With the track sounding like a mix of the overdriven shoegaze of Dinosaur Jr, and the anthemic modernity of Sports Team.

As the album progresses, tracks such as ‘My Candidacy’ further push the records genre-bending manifesto. With the song boasting a mix of punk and funk almost akin to Rage Against The Machine whilst still maintaining a lightness that means it wouldn’t seem out of place being played on a Norwegian summers-day. ‘Danger Baby’, however, shows a slower, more introspective side to the band, with melodic elegance and grace being paramount. It has all the makings of a hit Radio 1 pop song, whilst still maintaining a firm foot in the “indie-kid” camp.

With the album drawing to a close ‘Curley Romance’ brings the album back to its previously established, heavier sound. It maintains a distinctly stoner groove whilst also offering heavy and distorted guitar sounds that almost border on metal. The track is seeming begging you to mosh along with it. Closing out the album is ‘Body Level’. With a surfer edge, the track ends the album on an anthemic high-note. It’s easily the most up-beat, summertime track on the album. Pop-filled guitars carry the track to its chorus, whilst funk packed bass and vocal deliveries drive the album to its up-beat and warm conclusion.

Cheater is a blissfully odd record. Refreshingly different, but holding on the staples of many a genre. Swinging from punk to funk, stoner rock to pop, the listener never knows what to expect next. Pom Poko are packed with youthful abandonment and talent, leaving them as one of the most exiting bands emerging from the current musical crop.

Cheater arrives 15 January via Bella Union. 

More about: Pom Poko