Dark and ominous clouds gathered in the sky behind Poliça as they pumped out their fuzzily hypnotic indie rock. Thankfully, the potential rain stayed at bay, and the Minneapolis-based foursome was able to complete their show without hesitation. Their only hitch came in Channy Leaneagh’s use of vocal effect pedals. While the band’s recent debut, Give You The Ghost showed a stronger smattering of auto-tuning than almost any musician before, Leaneagh’s vocals came out muffled and unpleasant during this performance. It was a shame, considering how solid the band has proven themselves to be in the mere months they’ve been together.
For a new group, they definitely garnered some heavy attention; probably as much due to their terrific debut as it is to their association with some famous indie greats of today. That album features some fantastic electro-groove, and solidly hammering beats from the band’s two drummers, but the standout section was always Leaneagh’s thickly distorted vocals. Together the band composes a scattered variety of dancing styles that oftens lends us all a great excuse to breezily shake it.
Poliça coalesced after Leaneagh left legendary MN folk-rock group Roma di Luna and started talking about a group of her own with Gayngs member Ryan Olson. The two had collaborated together in Gayngs, and what started as Olson deciding to help produce Leaneagh’s next effort, quickly morphed into a full-fledged band of gathered musicians from surrounding areas.
To add to this, former Gayngs contributor Bon Iver has now gone so far as to refer to Poliça as the ‘best band’ he’s ever heard; and when you listen to the album, it makes sense why he might say that. Onstage this weekend, though, Leaneagh seemed wispy at best, and misfired her vocals on almost every song, distracting from the rest of the band’s spacey and delectable sound. Leaneagh has mentioned in various publications that the band is still a work in progress, however, so it’s clear this fumbled show was a simple misstep on their way to the top.