Pom Poko —named after a Studio Ghibli movie about a family of racoon dogs (tanukis) with prominent scrotums— was formed in Oslo in 2017 and has consisted since its inception of vocalist Ragnhild Fangel, guitarist Martin Tonne, bassist Jonas Krøve, and drummer Ola Djupvik, all of whom are jazz-trained musicians. In that sense, the band reminds me of New Zealand’s The Beths, another poppy-rocky-punky band whose members come from a jazz background. The bands are quite different, but I feel their familiarity with jazz shines through in unique, energetic and technically satisfying rock music. The Norwegians are famous for their astounding live shows, which was where the initial buzz for the band came from, eventually landing them a record deal with English label Bella Union, with whom they’ve released their three records.
Unlike their latest album Champion, where the band have given themselves ample space to explore the calmer side of their music, their first two records —Birthday (2019) and Cheater (2021)— are just chock full of noisy uptempo songs with supercharged guitars and mathy grooves, and it seems like for every calm moment, there’s an extra frantic one sort of to compensate. But even at their most chaotic, there is always a sense of measure, of an overarching vision or musical floorplan that keeps the music from total entropy but also never leads it into stale or sterile territory. What really does shine through no matter what aspect of the band any individual song is showcasing, is each member’s individual talent and the absolute tightness of their unit. The band is a true collective in its operations, sharing not only composition and arrangement duties in equal measure, but also matters of management, promotion, scheduling. Pom Poko is a band of friends who above all else love making music together, and that’s joyfully evident in the music they make together. From: https://everythingisnoise.net/weekly-featured-artist/wfa-pom-poko/
