It's another year and time for another album from Polysics, a band that's been releasing a new album every year since their first release in 1999 (not to mention a constant stream of singles, EPs, compilations and DVDs along the way). Their profile has been constantly on the rise, hitting its peak in 2006 with the release of the "I My Me Mine" video featuring the robotic dancing of Strong Machine 2. They went on to sign with MySpace Records and go on progressively growing tours overseas.
Ever since National P in 2003, arguably the band's strangest and most adventurous album, they have been dialing back the craziness. From Now is the Time! to Karate House and then on to We Ate the Machine, each album has become progressively less noisy and insane in favor of cleaner production and less jagged song structures. Even their reliance on Kayo's synths and other digital tracks has gone down. On Absolute Polysics she has a much more traditional role, playing less grating sounds and more straight up harmony to Hiro's guitar. She only has one song in which she has a lead vocal part, the album closer "Wasabi," but she is, for all intents and purposes, silent on the other 13 tracks.
Polysics
Absolute Polysics
Ki/oon Records
CDJapan | iTunes
The overall lack of variance to the album's production, the sameness to the feel of every track, makes Absolute Polysics a bit of a disappointment in the “wow” department. There are a some great songs and interesting ideas, but they seem to be spread very thin. "Shout Aloud" and "E.L.T.C.C.T." are packed with exactly the right amount of catchy song writing versus zany structuring. "Bero Bero" and "Wasabi" provide the strangeness and playfulness that really defines the band. Everything else? Certainly not bad, but also not so great. The lack of Kayo's lead vocals and the way in which her usually squelchy and abrasive synths are pushed far into the background in favor of the cleaner production also leaves the songs sounding a little too even. On the other hand, it's much easier to make out what everyone is playing, something that was lost on the band's earlier, and more noisy, releases.
Maybe that is what's missing. That sense of the band playing live in a big room. The feeling that everything is on the verge of falling apart and exploding. That dirty new-wave punk sound. Now they are clean and precise. Once again there is the feeling that this album has been churned out at break-neck speed, written more to meet a contractual deadline than for the fun of playing loud and fast. It's still a work of occasional genius, packing more material into most songs than other bands use on an entire album. Absolute Polysics is an album that only becomes more awe-inspiring on repeat listens. Yet it's tough to not see how the band is evolving (or, of course, DEVOlving) toward an almost clinical, assembly-line method of song writing.
In the end, Absolute Polysics isn't the best thing Polysics has ever done, but it's not bad by any means. The songs will likely translate better in a live setting, which is where people should be seeing the band anyway. If nothing else, Absolute Polysics is simply a good excuse for the band to go out on tour and tear up stages around the world. Who could blame them for that?
"P!"
"Shout Aloud"
"Beat Flash"
"Young Oh! Oh!"
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