After Polara's 1995 self-titled indie debut album, the industry buzz on Polara was almost deafening. Everyone from Rolling Stone ("these tracks coexist beautifully") to USA Today ("a cut above the current Nirvana-bes") has been falling all over themselves praising Polara. After starting out as a solo project for Minneapolis producer/artist Ed Ackerson, Polara eventually developed into a four person group made up of accomplished musicians. Ackerson recruited Peter Anderson to fill the drum chair, Jennifer Jurgens to play keyboards and guitar, and Jason Orris to man the bass. After 180 dates together, the band felt tight and ready to go home to Minneapolis to cut their sophomore release, C'est La Vie, which, as far as sophomore releases go, isn't bad.
The music sounds remarkably similar to Garbage, but with a male as the lead vocalist. It's hard to pigeonhole Polara because their music brings to mind a wildly disparate group of artists (Smashing Pumpkins, Poison, Matthew Sweet). By utilizing a combination of chopping and wailing guitars with a vast array of keyboard buzzes and whistles, Ackerson has created a soul-filled album while retaining the detached techno/pop feel of the early 80's. Unfortunately, Polara never really stakes out the music as their own. Even after listening to the album twice, I still had trouble discerning what makes it seem so darn familiar.
It's hard to tell who is responsible for what instrumentally, since so many of the members of Polara pull double and triple duty. Each song is generally chock full of noise, though none of it seems like overkill. The drumming is rather rudimentary, but it fits well with the music, providing a strong backbone for Ackerson's musical soundscapes. As a vocalist, Ackerson's limited range is hidden by his ability to shift styles with ease.
C'est La Vie, which incidentally has no connection to the earlier song of the same name by Robbie Nevil, starts off with "Transformation", in which Ackerson's gravelly vocals sound like a techno George Thorogood. "Light The Fuse And Run" and "Quebecois" are also highlights.
Polara's strengths and weaknessess are exposed in their songwriting. While almost every song has a chorus that lodges itself in your subconscious, the lyrics are often kind of silly ("don't get me wrong, don't get me wrong, change came along, change came along").
Inexplicibly, Polara hasn't been much of a commercial success. I think it may be because they have all the ingredients of a hit on their hands, but I kind of got a "been there, done that" feeling after listening to the album. It's almost like Polara borrowed a shirt from U2, a pair of pants from Billy Corgin, a sock from Collective Soul, and a pair of boxers from Trent Reznor, which sounds like a pretty interesting outfit. The only problem is that no one showed Polara how to sew their own names onto the tags.
If you're into the Brit-pop scene or early 80's US pop, I say give Polara a chance. They might just surprise you.
