‘Champion’ is Pom Poko’s third album. Many people know what they’re about by now. They make a sound that is pretty close to unique. You might call them post-punk or garage rockers but it would have to be an up-market garage. Perhaps Lady Penelope’s; where Parker stores her Roller.
I described them as a ‘breath of fresh air’ when they first arrived on the scene and even, after one early gig, as the most innovative and dynamic band to be found anywhere in Europe, never mind Norway.
But second album ‘Cheater’ (2021) didn’t quite live up to the high bar set by the debut one, ‘Birthday’ (2019 and my album of the year). Then they experimented a little on an EP, ‘This is our House’ (2022) which even included an interpretation of a classical piece by Bach. You couldn’t describe it as being in the middle of the street.
Superlatives have a short lifespan in this most fickle of all businesses and I could name a couple of Norwegian bands who could give them a run for their money now in each of the garage and math rock categories. Trendsetters won’t sit in glorious isolation for long.
So what’s a band to do, stick or twist? Give the punters what they already know and love, or try something new for fear of becoming typecast and running out of steam?
When NMC reviewed the title track, which was released as a single in April, we mentioned they’d been searching for a “cleaner and leaner” sound (traditionally there’s so much going on that it’s a cacophony) and had achieved it, apart from a questionable guitar riff which sounds like an attempt by earthlings to contact the aliens, or vice versa.
It’s melodic too, almost ballad-like, which is highly unusual for this all-action band which has been known to dance on stage with some of the oddball, oftentimes grotesque creatures from the weird Japanese Studio Ghibli animation from where they take their band’s name.
And that’s another thing about Pom Poko that you have to remember. Ragnhild, Martin, Jonas and Ola are unashamedly in it to have a good time and that’s unlikely to change. I saw them in Manchester earlier this year and they generated enough energy to have powered the city through the rest of the night.
And they’ve been doing that ever since I first saw them seven years ago. Some of Manchester’s less energetic footballers might care to take note.
They paint pictures of everyday life too; no wistful dreaming. They say what they see. That is their forte. In the opening track ‘Growing story’, a traditional Pom Poko construction complete with Martin Tonne’s guitar contribution that might be available as an algebraic equation on a blackboard, Ragnhild charts the progress of an affair that starts playing darts and ends at dinner parties.
And then in the following track, ‘My Family’ they follow a similar theme of development and change within the context of their own little family and its touring home on wheels but this time at breakneck speed and with a percussion contribution that could easily result in concussion.
‘Go’ was previously released as a single and it’s quickly evident why. It could be a hoedown, another Olympics 100-metre race, with enormous chunky guitar chords from Martin Tonne and the closest to an actual melody that I’ve heard being played on the drums by Ola Djupvik. Even the opening bars might be employed as police siren. The track of the album for me.
‘Never Saw It Coming’, to a catchy bass line by the unsung but excellent Jonas Krøvel, punctuated by a manic Tonne solo, is a musical version of the sort of social observation humour you get from the likes of Peter Kay or an episode of The Royle Family, chronicling difficult and embarrassing family moments.
The disjointed and utterly frenzied ‘Big Life’, which is being played in at least two time signatures at once by the sound of it, seems to be all about dreaming big even if not winning big. “This day is the big one”, intones Ragnhild, who knows you have to be in it to win it.
The opening lines to the final track, ‘Fumble’ –
“A man told me people move ’cause they don’t know what to talk about
And then I left the room, guess I could’ve asked about his life”
remind me of the Dane Lydmor’s “I could be fun like rollercoaster rides, somebody says/…and walks away”.
The human condition. How we are all islands and for the most part merely ships that pass in the night. How you can struggle to remember the qualities of someone you called a friend, as recently as a few years ago, but can now barely picture in your mind.
Backed in the main by acoustic guitar and vocal harmonising it’s a delightful little pop ballad that stands in contrast with much of the rest of the album. It shows what they are capable off in alternative styles.
Not all the tracks are quite so appealing though. ‘You’re not helping’ doesn’t help itself by failing to find any variety of melody and Ragnhild sounds like she’s reading out the weekly shopping list while ‘Pile of Wood’ and ‘Bell’ are fairly run of the mill by their own standards.
They have made some things cleaner and leaner for sure, but is that a good thing? The tracks that work best for me, with the exception of ‘Fumble’, are the old school Pom Poko standards with screeching guitars, thudding basses, obscure beats, and mathematical equations used in their construction.
They are going through a transitory stage, and album #4, a few years down the line, could see a full blown return to ‘Birthday’, or a gentler, kinder, more tuneful offer, or anywhere in between.
Whichever path they follow though you can bet they’ll have a bloody good time doing it.
8/10
Pom Poko will be touring the UK again later in the year, in October. See the ‘Events’ section of their Facebook page for details.
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pompokounofficial
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/pompokotheband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pompokounofficial/
