Pom Poko – Cheater LP Vinyl Record (Clear Vinyl)

Pom Poko – Cheater LP Vinyl Record (Clear Vinyl)

Norwegian quartet Pom Poko met while all studying at the Trondheim Music Conservatory in Norway. They begun playing and writing together and quickly began to garner interest from a wider audience. Theirname is taken from one of the more vigorously outré films by Japanese animation visionaries Studio Ghibli.Between the quartet’s sweet melodies, galvanic punky ructions and wild-at-art-rock eruptions, their 2020 album “Cheater” is the sound of a band celebrating the extremes that make them so uniquely qualified to thrill and fulfil any need you might have for a pick-me-up.

Recorded and produced in cooperation with Marcus Forsgren (Jaga Jazzist, Broen, Arc Iris),“Cheater”is the sound of four distinct personalities driving in divergent directions towards one destination. The result is an evolved snapshot of the bracingly contrary chemistry forged when Fangel, Tonne, Jonas Krøvel (bass) and Ola Djupvik (drums) united to play punk during a jazz gig at a literature festival in Trondheim (the band-members studied jazz there.)

“Cheater” does its predecessor proud on every front. Bursting with colour and wonky life from its cover art (by close collaborator Erlend Peder Kvam) outwards, it differs from “Birthday” primarily in that its songs did not have a chance to be road-tested before going into the studio. But you wouldn’t know it. As Ragnhild explains, “That meant we had to practice the songs in a more serious way, but it also meant the songs had more potential to change when we recorded them since we didn’t have such a clear image of what each song should/could be as the last time.”

Pressed on ClearVinyl

TRACKLISTING

Side A:

1. Cheater
2. Like A Lady
   
3. Andrew
   
4. My Candidacy
   
5. Danger Baby