Album of the Week: Polica, 'United Crushers'
March 07, 2016
From the opening strains of the first track, "Summer Please," Poliça make it clear that this album is taking us in a new direction. Singer Channy Leaneagh pitches her voice down into a lower register, deceiving the listeners with an aural slight of hand, then breaks free of her trademark vocal effects to sail into the atmosphere unadorned, showing off the full range of her elastic and emotive voice.
Die-hard fans of her previous band, Roma di Luna, will be thrilled to hear Leaneagh return to singing in this way. Her more minimal use of the vocoder brings her lyrics and phrasing to the very front of the mix, causing her melodies to dance and dart out in front of the band's blistering drums and tapestry of extraterrestrial sounds.
United Crushers is Poliça's most political collection to date — both the song and video for "Wedding" confront the issue of police brutality. But it's also Leaneagh's most cautiously optimistic work yet; one of the first phrases we hear on the record is her singing, "I've got mine, I'll be fine," while "Kind" finds her encouraging her subject to, "Get happy, get right, get real."
There are also some beautifully intimate and personal moments. On "Fish," Leaneagh uses a moment of insecurity to reveal a truly vulnerable side of herself to her audience. “You see me on stage and think I'm so strong," she reflects, promising that she'll end up being our falling star. But these quiet, uncertain moments make her artistry even more captivating; after confronting the darkness in our society and in herself, she's sounding stronger than ever.