The musical equivalent of a firework display, the third album from Norwegian art-poppers Pom Poko is bright, energised and unstoppable. It is also considered; clearly the culmination of a careful creative process. Fusing the spontaneous and the structured can be tricky, but this is what the nimble Champion accomplishes.
Heard without knowing anything about Pom Poko, Champion comes across as a new wave-influenced take on math rock were those responsible cocking an ear to Imperial-era Beyoncé. Pop, but pop which has been deconstructed and then reassembled.
Opening cut “Growing Story” is along the lines of Ohio’s The Waitresses. Though in essence it’s hell-for-leather pop-punk, there’s some Deerhoof in the next track “My Family.” Third up, the title track finds vocalist Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit evoking Tom Tom Club. After this, “You’re Not Helping” with its slabs of second album-era Gang of Four squall from guitarist Martin Miguel Almagro Tonne. Could that be The B-52’s colouring “Never Saw It Coming”? Pom Poko themselves may have had none of this in mind while recording the album, but they surely have heard a lot of music – the band are all jazz-school graduates – and subliminal influences are undoubtedly at play. Most important is that it all hangs together.
Previously, Pom Poko’s albums haven’t been this focused. With the effervescent Champion, they have found themselves. Listening is tremendous fun, as is figuring out which of the 11 images on the cover goes with which of the album’s 11 tracks. The one at the bottom with the logs obviously accompanies “Pile of Wood,” but as to the one representing “My Family”? Hopefully, it’s not the anthropomorphised haystack on the right.
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