I was aware of Polachek but didn’t take too much notice of her work until she did a live set for Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC6Music the other week and was blown away by her.
I loved the set so much that I rewound the performance to listen to it again. At the same time, I raced onto the internet and preordered her upcoming release which featured songs from the live set.
I also went looking for other records by her and found a copy of this, her first album, in 81 Renshaw, my favourite Liverpool record shop - it felt like a sign so I took a punt.
Polachek is a classically trained singer so it is little surprise that voice is the centrepiece for the whole album, it floats over the music in tracks like ‘Go As A Dream’ and ‘Parachute’.
Throughout the album, she also puts her voice through Auto-Tune to use it as “the ultimate analogue synth” (as she describes it). It is used to great effect on tracks like ‘Door’.
Songs like ‘I Give Up’ and ‘Caroline Shut Up’ remind me of Haim which is fine by me. I’ve heard ‘So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings’ before but couldn’t work out where. Turns out it was used on a viral TikTok video and slipped into my consciousness.
If you fancy getting some beautifully produced, exquisitely performed indie pop into your life then Horizons Music has it for £22.
Tracks To Try: ‘Hit Me Where It Hurts’, ‘I Give Up’, ‘Insomnia’, ‘So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings’, ‘Door’.