They
came on the stage while the post-support, pre-gig record spun on. Took their
places. Both drummers to the rear, bassist stage right, vocals remaining left.
The
wails start and the worries are ignited. I’m not concerned about Channy’s voice
though – on no. My fears of that failing were unfounded. I’m worried when I remember that
wails are a main feature of the Poliça production, that I was here for another
one-and-a-half hours, and that I hadn’t noticed track 1 slide surreptitiously
into song 2, nor had I caught a lyric or even a word.
But
something else I didn’t notice until the second the music paused for breath was
that I was moving
__///__//__///__//__///__//__///__//__///__//__///__//__///__//__///__//__///__//__///__//__///__//__///__//__///__//.
Awkwardly, alternating my shoulder blades in time to Drew’s
drumbeat.
¬¬¬¬¬_‘¬¬¬¬¬_‘¬¬¬¬¬_‘¬¬¬¬¬_‘¬¬¬¬¬_‘¬¬¬¬¬_‘
And then it was Channy’s body sinuously jerking to meet me
at the centre of the stage, not quite daring to greet us head on, then making a
prowling retreat. Under her Dad’s jeans and a cowboy’s boyfriend’s shirt, her bones
rumbled to Chris’s energetic bassline. His neck flexes back and forth and his
shirt begins to darken after he asks for more bass and drives on, facing the
audience, the all-important gateway between band and crowd.
The brass in Dark Star
blares out. Except of course there is no section in sight; musicians as well as
production geniuses, Poliça maintain
the zone they are in, that they share with the audience, without allowing it to
be infiltrated. The audience is permitted to continue its steady, angular
bobbing without disturbance or disappointment. The less the music sounds like a
song, the more intense, a scarf flowing around the audience and holding them in.
By moving the vocals on Lay Your Cards Out
away from the recording, the group lauds Channy’s voice as much more than a
lyrical motor, rather as a finely tuned, technically trained instrument.
Timed to
precision &
Intense,
Poliça do
what they do and they do it well,
and that’s not an evening singalong
