Love is Pop favorite Poliça is releasing a deluxe edition of the band’s incredible Shulamith album, a record that shimmers with enough kaleidoscopic colors to temporarily blind you. One listen to the beautiful work of alt/art pop and you’ll never forget it. It’s the audio equivalent of seeing a famous painting in person at Le Louvre.
Shulamith’s new deluxe edition bonus tracks are being called the Raw Exit EP. Fans can choose whether to buy the deluxe edition of the album or to purchase the Raw Exit EP alone. They’re even releasing the Raw Exit EP as a standalone 10″ vinyl record, which will be out in Europe on June 30th via Memphis Industries and Stateside later this summer on Mom+Pop.
The Raw Exit EP opens with a song called, surprise, surprise, “Raw Exit.” “Who’s ready to die alone?” asks vocalist Channy Leaneagh over and over throughout the song while hot synthesized bass, bubbling bass guitar, and all sorts of dazzling synth and assorted programmed tracks play over a super smooth drum beat. Perhaps the synth isn’t entirely dark, but with all of the chatter about death, it’s a perfect windswept theme song for a spectral drivetime.
The rather mid-tempo “Baby Blue” follows and bursts with funky and addictive bass guitar like a breath of fresh air. It also delivers melancholic synth that would seem to mimic the beginning of Van Halen’s “Runnin’ with the Devil.” But, hot damn, it’s that groovy bass that gets inside of your head and hooks you. It’s as though you’re steel and the song is a magnet. You’re helpless against it, so you submit.
The third track might be called “Great Regret,” but it’s an upbeat disco thumper that will have you bouncing around every time you listen to it. It’s like a modern re-write of Blondie’s “Atomic.” “Hold me like this,” Leaneagh sings and it’s an invitation to dance your ass offf.
Finally, the EP concludes with a cover of the Lesley Gore ballad “You Don’t Own Me.” Poliça give it a healthy dose of synth and make it sound like one of their songs, much like CHVRCHES cover of Whitney Houston’s “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.” To that end, all of these songs sound like they’re close cousins of CHVRCHES which is a very good thing indeed.
If you’re into synth pop, Raw Exit is mandatory listening. It’s got bright synth, dark synth, and every color of synth in between. It sucks you in and it pops you out. And it manipulates your emotions, as all good songs do, at all times.
6/2 Buffalo, NY @ Tralf
6/3 Toronto, CA @ Mod Club
6/5 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
6/6 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
6/7 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
6/8 Columbus, OH @ The Basement
6/9 Cincinnati, OH @ Southgate
6/10 Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
6/12 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
6/16 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
6/17 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
6/20 Scheessel, Germany @ Hurricane
6/20 Stodtlen, Germany @ Southside Festival
6/24 Munich, Germany @ Freiheiz
6/25 Dusseldorf, Germany @ Zakk
6/28 Brighton, UK @ The Old Market
6/29 Ewijk, NDL @ Down The Rabbit Hole
8/2 London, UK @ Visions Festival
8/3 Antwerp, BEL @ Rivierenhof
8/4 Leipzig, GER @ Taubchenthal
8/7 Gothenberg, SWE @ Way Out West
8/9 Helsinki, FIN @ Flow Festival
8/11 Arhus C, DEN @ Train
8/12 Frankfurt, GER @ Palmengarten
8/14 Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms
8/15 Crickhowell, UK @ Green Man Festival
8/16 Leeds, UK @ Belgrave Music Hall
8/30 Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot
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