Shapes by Polvo (Review)
Polvo is a band that the indie rock community seems pretty firmly divided on: either they love ‘em or hate ‘em. The love affair seems to be dying down in the former camp, and this record appears to give yet more fuel to the fire to hate them. I’ve a solution to the problem. People like me, who often prefer their head droned into subliminal submission, should have been into them all the while, and not those who prefer their face rocked off with crunchy riffs and other easily digestable staples.
I say those who hate Polvo already probably have more reason to on this record, because Shapes is filled with arty pretensions that make the un-experimental minded’s lips curl. There’s tons of odd time signatures, skronky guitar and bass tones, synth squiggles, solos, and other esoterica that’s straight from prog rock.
Having said that, I advise all those who like slow thrills — e.g., Tortoise, Bowery Electric — that this disk has something to offer. “Enemy Insects” has a quirky melody that’s somewhat reminiscent of Mercury Rev. There’s many a droning, boinging tone in the background of this album, and nary a shortage of clanging, eastern melody lines.
The fresh thing about Polvo is that they do such traditionally no-smiles allowed, experimental things, but with a real sense of humor. “Rock Post Rock,” “Downtown Dedication,” and “D.D. (S.R.)” are what happens in a world where King Crimson and George Harrison at his droning-est, replaces Led Zeppelin and John Lennon as Lenny Kravitz’s chief sources of inspirational theft. There’s fuzztones that don’t have to be horrendously bad, to be horrendously good. The watery, effected vocals on “Downtown Dedication,” are the stuff of classic rock lore. The van in your driveway with Boris Vallejo prints on the side door, is closer than you think right now. All that’s missing, I thought, is a really wonderfully dopey drum solo. They did not disappoint. “D.D. (S.R.)”
We find Polvo guilty of prog in the first degree. Sentence suspended for good humor and time well served in the underground.
Written by Pearson Greer.