Magical, chilling, moving and a surreal experience are just some of the words that I can think of that would describe an album that was a surprising listen. Give You The Ghost the debut LP from POLIÇA for me takes you to a place that not many other bands or artists have the capability of doing.
Channy Leaneagh (vocalist) is very experimental with her music and isn’t afraid to mix it up a little. This is clear throughout the whole album. The soft feel of the record has been given an edge because of the synthesized vocals giving it more of an electro inducing vibe, completely changing what the record could have been.

With her having previously worked Ryan Olsen the producer on a previous project (GAYNGS) both decided to take a new path together. Clearly the two work well in their partnership as they had started writing in June 2011 and had completed all 11 tracks by July.  Olsen having secured the base of the album allowed Channy to come in and make it her own. They brought in the cavalry with two drummers Ben Ivascu and Drew Christopherson along with bassist Chris Bierdan. Things were almost complete but not without the addition of Mike Noyce, or better known to ourselves as Bon Iver, to lay down some vocals on two tracks “Lay Your Cards Out” and “wandering star”. The next process, taking it to Austin Texas to Jim Eno for the mixing process, this in turn gave us the finished product.

While the whole album is great the one track on the album that sticks out for me is “Violent Games”. By far the heaviest track on the album, with its rolling drum beat throughout and a seductive bass line it’s hard not to fall head over heels for this track. I feel with this track they kind of let loose and got into the moment as if nothing else mattered. Where you have other tracks such as “Happy Be Fine” that it just feels the Channy could be whispering the song in your ear, because anything louder might just ruin the moment. It is nice, soft and has the ability to put you into a state of bliss as if you could be floating on cloud nine. With everything else this LP has the one thing for me is that it has a worry free feel as if there’s nothing but you and the music left in the world and that time is nonexistent. If an album can do that is there any other way you would want to feel? I think not!

The album is not one that would fill you full of energy; it suits the more laid back type of mood that we all get especially after long days of work. For me it takes you on a journey that could steal the hearts of people who like nothing better than to listen to good music that is a little different. With the constant change in what is mainstream music, Poliça have for me hit the nail on the head, to have created something unique that could definitely change mainstream music. The band show great potential for the future and I do hope to hear more from them. 

Christopher McEvoy