Polica – Give You The Ghost

Channy Leaneagh’s venture into the reverberating sound of Poliça makes perfect sense. After splitting from Roma di Luna, the folk-rock outfit where she served as lead vocalist, Leaneagh embarked on a new creative path, this time channeling R&B. And while Leaneagh’s former band may have been concerned with making sense of things, Poliça’s debut album, Give You The Ghost, is more about escaping it all.

Ghost’s opening track “Amongster” begins with a thick synth line and a light drumming style before erupting into a frenzy of fast beats and soaring vocals. Leaneagh weaves her way in and out of the song’s pulses of energy with an agility she holds onto throughout the album. The deep soulful tone of her voice is complemented by the band’s unique use of auto-tune and other manipulations that warble and bend Leaneagh’s voice.

However, the use of auto-tune on every word Leaneagh sings quickly grows tiring when listening to the album in full. Despite how much her vocal prowess may transcend these effects, it still ends up wearing thin. Her vocal tone is stirred to an interesting result on tracks like “Violent Games” and the lead single “Lay Your Cards Out” which grips you with its first chords, but other songs may have benefited from a reveal of Leaneagh’s organic vocals.

However despite Poliça’s limitations, Give You The Ghost provides a room filling sound that evokes the same wonder it gives out, and we will definitely be hearing more of them.