If you were lucky enough to be at the 9:30 Club last Wednesday night, you witnessed one of hell of a performance from rising stars Poliça.
The band, who hail from Minneapolis, Minnesota, are touring to support their second full-length album, Shulamith, which was released last month. Poliça brought their mix of haunting vocal work and melodic grooves to DC for their fans to enjoy. During the show, vocalist Channy Leaneagh told the audience that Poliça had played their very first show at the 9:30 Club and that she was glad to be back.
The band consists of Leaneagh on vocals, bassist Chris Bierden, drummers Ben Ivascu and Drew Christopherson, and producer Ryan Olson. Since their formation in 2011, Poliça has been steadily gaining momentum in their songwriting, as well as extending their fan base.
The first thing that strikes me about Poliça are the beautiful sounds that Leaneagh creates with her vocals. She uses some kind of vocal-processor setup that’s both obvious yet subdued at the same time. Her vocal range is unbelievably broad, and the tone of her voice is stirring, yet specific. Her vocal runs can seemingly last minutes and are quite stunning as she belts out tunes like “Dark Star” and “Chain My Name.” She is clearly confident in her role as the lead of this band, and she graciously draws most of the crowd’s attention with her subtle yet poignant movements during their live performance.
As for the rest of the band, besides his role playing bass guitar, Chris Bierden’s duties include being the glue that holds the band together. His musicianship is unbelievable, and he truly makes both sense and full use of having two separate full-time drummers both equipped with full kits. Adding two percussionists to any mix is always a complicated endeavor, but Poliça make it an essential part of their sound. At times, it almost gives the effect of a percussion-march quality to the music. Everything is accented, and both drummers do their best to complement one another.
At one point during the performance, Leaneagh even announced to the crowd that both drummers Ivascu and Christopherson had been on “double duty” for this stretch of their tour. Both drummers did play a full set with the nights opener Marijauna Deathsquads, and she tipped her hat to them by saying “They are very hard-working fellows.” Leaneagh continued to say sweetly, “They love to drum,” and then “They love to drum together.”
Sharing drummers is not the only tie Poliça has to Marijuana Deathsquads. The band is lead by Ryan Olsen, who, along with Leaneagh, co-founded Poliça in 2011. Leaneagh worked as a backup vocalist on Olsen’s Gayngs Project that he started in 2010. In 2011, Olsen convinced Leaneagh to record some tracks with him on a new project, and from those recordings, Poliça was formed. Although Olsen has remained out of the limelight in Poliça’s live setup, he is heavily involved in the production and songwriting for this amazing band.
Poliça’s 2013 release, Shulamith, is available on vinyl via Mom + Pop Music. NPR recorded the show live, and it is available to stream for those of you who missed out on Wednesday’s performance.
MARIJUANA DEATHSQUAD
