pollyn

Single Review / Download: Still Love - Pollyn

Pollyn's follow-up to debut single 'Give It Up' (which BlackPlastic featured here) somehow manages to further up the melancholy angst even more, and if you have heard that previous track you know that's a bit of an achievement in itself.

File this under ice-cold mechanical soul, then, for that's what it is. The may be angst and pain here but it is the kind painted over with a coat of lead - the emotion buried beneath a protective suit of cold electronics. If anything this exceeds the quality Pollyn demonstrated on their debut single and is an encouraging taster of the album, although if the current trend continues they might end up making Ian Curtis look like an optimist - here's hoping their is a little more emotional variety on that album itself.

As with 'Give It Up' the remixes shine.  Hip-hop producers Sid Roams (who have previously worked with Jean Grae and Dilated Peoples) turn in distortion heavy affair that sits somewhere between hip-hop and industrial-soul, suiting the track perfectly and probably providing the highlight out of the remixes. French beatmaster dEbruit turns in a stuttering broken-beat effort that ditches the vocal but keeps the atmosphere. Finally Blue Daisy envelope the whole track in a disorienting, dubby sound that gradually fractures under the emotional weight of the track, giving a climax reminiscent of Four Tet.

Download 'Still Love (Original Mix)' [right click, save as]

Download 'Still Love (Sid Roams Remix)' [right click, save as]

Download 'Still Love (dEbruit Remix)' [right click, save as]

Download 'Still Love (Blue Daisy Remix)' [right click, save as]

BP

Pollyn's debut album This Little Night is out now, available on Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link]

Single Review / Download: Gave It Up - Pollyn

BlackPlastic has spent much of the last week digging on this slice of melancholic pop from Pollyn. 'Lost It All' sounds like the by-product of Annie and Robyn trying to out-do each other in the 'sad song' stakes whilst hanging out in a smokey little karaoke bar and in BlackPlastic's book that can only be a good thing. The slightly jangly backing track is just the right side of La Roux and the track drips with just enough sassy desperation that you can't figure out whether whether the singer is a basket case or not.

 

Check out the live studio performance:

Things get even better on Peter Visti's mix, which sees the whole tracked turned into a cosmic disco stormer... Sharp percussion and a muted guitar giving the whole track a moody, lost-on-the-dancefloor vibe and the break five minutes in, complete with discordant synths, really makes the whole thing a little epic.

Download 'Gave It Up' - Pollyn [right click, save as]

Download 'Gave It Up (Peter Visti Remix)' - Pollyn [right click, save as]

Head over to Pollyn's official site for more.