When I was first told I needed to write an article this week, I immediately thought of reviewing Cut Copy’s new album In Ghost Colours, but I’m sure most people know of my undying obsession with the group from Australia and are probably hoping I could get off their high cloud of awesome-ness. Well, I’ll take the stairway down just for the next hour or two or 10, to review Frankpollis’ debut EP.
This group of eighteen to twenty-something resident junkies from Brooklyn have recently released an online, self-titled six song EP. In the band’s early beginnings, people migrated to Frankpollis only to be a part of the “coolness” of seeing a band with Jackson Pollis as their drummer, but the EP erases any doubt of a gimmicky existence for the group. What surprises even me is how different Frankpollis sounds from anything I listen to, and how into it I am. If I was required to pick out a song that I disliked off the EP, I couldn’t. Frankpollis has created a sound so chill but rhythmically intense at the same time, that it’s so undeniably new.
Listening to standout tracks like the closer “Sacred Soil/Sacred Heart” could make anyone want to be a part of the head-bobbing at Frankpollis’ next show. The song’s impressive two minute opening builds upon a calculated, half-time display of strings, echoing guitars and steady bass lines, eventually breaking into an up tempo drum beat poised to prove itself. “Expectations” and “Malk” are also among my top picks.
Frankpollis’ sound has staying power. Recently returning from a tour in Japan, the guys played a few shows, toured ancient Tokyo landmarks with the photos to prove it (see Myspace), captured hundreds of babes hearts, and of course attempted to befriend Godzilla himself. To be frank, Frankpollis might’ve created something just too good.
