Oslo quartet return with impressive post punk / alt. pop referencing second LP The stifling need for fresh, exciting and interesting new music to cherish over this long and bleak winter is constantly throbbing like the pain of an uncompromising in-growing toenail. Having heard this name chucked around a bit concerning said needs, this was a golden opportunity to sink one’s teeth into
Pom Poko and their second album
Cheater. First impressions of this Norwegian quadrant came by way of ten seconds of the opening title track in which the initial thoughts were “Oh God please not another post-punk band!†(in all honesty, tea was spat out in laughter when someone called up Squid describing their album by simply claiming The Rapture have reformed). However, if the average attention span is dared to expand just a fraction, this is an opener adorned with twists, turns and amicable charm, at least four catchy hooks and something which becomes more and more apparent as
Deerhoof
Perfect Me
Look Away
There s a symphonic conception at work here, entire worlds within chords, genius hooks that may or may not swing by again, a programmatic, narrative flow that takes us from one place and drops us off in another, like an.
more » exhilarating abduction. Just as importantly, you can hear how the band took a little something from each of the bands they d toured with - Radiohead, The Roots, and Wilco - though they don t sound like any of them. Friend Opportunity is a feat of reinvention that could only come from artists willing to rethink everything.