Norway's Pom Poko are making the kind of spry indie-pop that leaps over genre-labels, while conveying a youthful zest that nearly every other band operating these days is incapable of displaying. The group's new record, Cheater, drops on Bella Union on Friday, and it's the sort of thing that should inspire every reviewer like me to get back into the swing of things, and rave about the good music coming out in these early days of 2021.
"Cheater" squalls in a manner that might suggest some Zappa offerings, even as "Like a Lady" takes inspiration from the Cocteau Twins and Bjork and The Sugarcubes and runs off into an almost new direction. The riffs here are choppy and fuzzy, but there's a playfulness in the musical paths pursued that's invigorating. So much of what's good about Cheater is carried on the shoulders of singer Ragnhild Fangel, and her ease with following the players over chords and hooks is impressive. "Danger Baby" is almost sweet, the melody a rather subdued one compared to the others on this Norwegian band's second album, even as "Baroque Denial" veers off into left-field, a neat approximation of Eighties Rush mixed with flashes of Deerhoof. While some will find the tonal shifts of Pom Poko jarring-if-lovely, anyone who liked bands Pram and Toenut in the Nineties will find lots of this easy to love.
Cheater is out on Friday via Bella Union.
[Photo: Jenny Berger Myhre]