Pollens - Brighten and Break

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 12 / 10 / 2012

---

Seattle sextet Pollens release one of 2012's most exciting debut albums, 'Brighten and Break' where natural ease and complexity go hand-in-hand. The splendid harmony vocals of Hanna Benn, Whitney Lyman, Lena Simon and Kelly Wyse with Jeff Aaron Bryant as an occasional lead singer result in pure melodic pop with ingenious twists. Their melting pot of music includes gamelan, the traditional music of Java and Bali, interwoven with styles from places as diverse as Kinshasa. On 'Powers' you'll hear a subtle mbira and plenty of patterns build on african rhythms. Yet, with one drummer it seems, Adam Kozie, their sounds are more like world folk pop music than like tribal trance, 'Sun Spots' excepted. 'Without Their Hands' blends the 'khendang' drum with guitar licks from Nigeria's juju, as if in the meeting of three continents. (Information on the band is sparse). On a first superficial hearing, you'll think of Celtic folk but soon the several layers lead to smooth innovation in the music. The graceful and gently harmonic singers leave an angelic impression, and as a small miracle this works very fine with the heft of the instrumentation of guitar and percussion. I'm baffled.

Track Listing:-

1 Helping Hand
2 Motion King
3 New Lazarus
4 Powers
5 ///
6 Splinters & Pointheads
7 III
8 Sun Sports
9 Without Their Hands
10 Snakes Goes Growing
11 Traveler's Theme

Band Links:-

http://www.pollens.band/
https://pollens.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/pollensband
https://www.facebook.com/pollenspollens/

Label Links:-

http://www.tapeterecords.de/
https://www.facebook.com/tapeterecords
https://twitter.com/tapete
https://www.youtube.com/user/tapeterecords/videos

Post A Comment

---

Comment

Name

your name

Location

ie London, UK

Submit

Check box to submit

Adam Coxon
Adrian Janes
Adrian P
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Carl Bookstein
Chris O'Toole
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston

Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank

Keith How
Kimberly Bright
L. Paul Mann
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart
Malcolm Carter
Marie Hazelwood
Mark Rowland
Nick Dent-Robinson
Nicky Crewe
Owen Peters
Richard Lewis

Shirley Procter
Spencer Robertshaw
Steve Kinrade
Steve Miles
Tommy Gunnarsson
Zena Grieg