Polar Bear | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Not to be confused with the American alternative rock outfit of the same name, Polar Bear are a British experimental post-jazz five-piece influenced by the likes of Beethoven, Stevie Wonder, and Björk. Formed in London in 2004 by drummer Sebastian Rochford, previously an early member of Babyshambles, saxophonists Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart, double bassist Tom Herbert, and electronic musician/guitarist Leafcutter John, the band first attracted attention with its 2004 debut album, Dim Lit, whose eclectic fusion of avant jazz, folk, electronica, and punk earned them a nomination for Best Band at the BBC Jazz Awards. They received their highest-profile accolades to date in 2005, when their sophomore effort, Held on the Tips of Fingers, was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. After headlining Noel Fieldings Mighty Boosh Festival in 2008, they released their self-titled third album, and followed it up two years later with Peepers. After intensive touring and a brief period of rest to reassess their direction, the band returned with In Each and Every One in 2014, a multifaceted album that veered from sprawling ambient compositions to hip-hop-flavored electronic beats. It was issued by The Leaf Label, and was also shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. Assured of their new direction, Polar Bear played shows and festivals in support, then immediately returned to the studio. The end result was Same as You, another diverse offering that revealed the group had permanently moved beyond genre restrictions. Released in the spring of 2015, it featured a guest appearance from Shabaka Hutchings (Sons of Kemet, Melt Yourself Down), and earned the band a nomination for a MOBO Award in the category of Best Jazz. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 8 Title: Dim Lit Released: 2003 Tracks: 10 Duration: 1:05:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Heavy Paws on the Purple Floor (06:27) 2 Not Here, Not Near (06:51) 3 Eves Apple (08:01) 4 Polar Bear Standing and Ready (03:45) 5 Urban Kilt (06:21) 6 Snow (04:30) 7 Underneath You Can See Too Much (07:00) 8 The Shapes in the Clouds Arent Always Happy (07:27) 9 New Dark Park (09:31) 10 Wild Horses (05:12) |
 | Album: 2 of 8 Title: Held on the Tips of Fingers Released: 2005-03 Tracks: 9 Duration: 42:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Was Dreaming You Called You Disappeared I Slept (02:08) 2 Beartown (05:56) 3 Fluffy (I Want You) (05:18) 4 To Touch the Red Brick (02:51) 5 Held on the Tips of Fingers (05:15) 6 Argumentative (04:08) 7 The King of Aberdeen (05:55) 8 Your Eyes the Sea (03:17) 9 Life That Ends Too Soon (07:25) |
 | Album: 3 of 8 Title: Polar Bear Released: 2008-07-14 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:15:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Tay (04:58) 2 Goodbye (07:58) 3 Appears, Moves and Sails (06:31) 4 tomlovesalicelovestom (06:01) 5 Voices (05:53) 6 Industry (03:39) 7 Brian (07:06) 8 Sunshine (04:41) 9 Leafcup (08:11) 10 It Snows Again (05:00) 11 Sounds Like a Train to Me (02:39) 12 I Am Alive (04:54) 13 Woollen Blanket (02:13) 14 Joy Jones (05:27) |
 | Album: 4 of 8 Title: Peepers Released: 2010-03-01 Tracks: 12 Duration: 48:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Happy for You (04:08) 2 Bap Bap Bap (02:11) 3 Drunken Pharoah (03:26) 4 The Love Didnt Go Anywhere (07:00) 5 A New Morning Will Come (04:41) 6 Peepers (04:24) 7 Bump (00:37) 8 Scream (00:35) 9 Hope Every Day Is a Happy New Year (04:07) 10 Want to Believe Everything (04:35) 11 Finding Our Feet (06:38) 12 All Here (05:50) |
| Peepers : Allmusic album Review : Polar Bear are an interesting band. On paper, two tenor saxes, acoustic bass, and drums look like a fairly standard jazz setup, but the addition of guitar/electronics puts a decidedly different spin on things. The music is clearly not written as a vehicle for soloing; these are songs, played by a band. Theyre concise and generally have a pop song structure. Everyone contributes to the songs, without grandstanding or tenor battles. Drummer Sebastian Rochford (who writes all the tunes) is a tasty and melodic drummer, supported nicely by bassist Tom Herbert. Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart are both fine tenor players who can add some edge when need be but generally play it pretty cool. Leafcutter John splits pretty equally between rhythmic guitar comping and well-placed "what-the-hell-is-that-sound?" electronics. They can play it uptempo and fun like "Happy for You" and "Peepers" or they can bring it down and get slow and/or mysterious as on "A New Morning Will Come" and "Finding Our Feet." Then theres "Drunken Pharoah," which sounds like its falling down the stairs. Peepers is the sound of jazz-rock in the new millennium. Very well done. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 8 Title: Common Ground Released: 2010-10-25 Tracks: 9 Duration: 26:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Recording in Secret (03:18) 2 Never Giving Up (03:57) 3 New Love (03:03) 4 Dont Think I Wont (03:13) 5 Stay in Control (03:26) 6 The Role I Choose (03:04) 7 Flowerpot (remix) (02:28) 8 Fire It Up (02:49) 9 Enterprize (01:07) |
 | Album: 6 of 8 Title: Polar Bear Album Bundle Released: 2014-03-03 Tracks: 54 Duration: 4:17:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Heavy Paws on the Purple Floor (06:27) 2 Not Here, Not Near (06:51) 3 Eves Apple (08:01) 4 Polar Bear Standing and Ready (03:45) 5 Urban Kilt (06:21) 6 Snow (04:30) 7 Underneath You Can See Too Much (07:00) 8 The Shapes in the Clouds Arent Always Happy (07:27) 9 New Dark Park (09:31) 10 Wild Horses (05:12) 11 Was Dreaming You Called You Disappeared I Slept (02:08) 12 Beartown (05:56) 13 Fluffy (I Want You) (05:18) 14 To Touch the Red Brick (02:51) 15 Held on the Tips of Fingers (05:15) 16 Argumentative (04:08) 17 The King of Aberdeen (05:55) 18 Your Eyes the Sea (03:17) 19 Life That Ends Too Soon (07:25) 20 Tay (04:58) 21 Goodbye (07:58) 22 Appears, Moves and Sails (06:31) 23 tomlovesalicelovestom (06:01) 24 Voices (05:53) 25 Industry (03:39) 26 Brian (07:06) 27 Sunshine (04:41) 28 Leafcup (08:11) 29 It Snows Again (05:00) 30 Sounds Like a Train to Me (02:39) 31 I Am Alive (04:54) 32 Woollen Blanket (02:13) 33 Joy Jones (05:27) 34 Happy for You (04:08) 35 Bap Bap Bap (02:11) 36 Drunken Pharoah (03:26) 37 The Love Didnt Go Anywhere (07:00) 38 A New Morning Will Come (04:41) 39 Peepers (04:24) 40 Bump (00:37) 41 Scream (00:35) 42 Hope Every Day Is a Happy New Year (04:07) 43 Want to Believe Everything (04:35) 44 Finding Our Feet (06:38) 45 All Here (05:50) 46 Recording in Secret (03:18) 47 Never Giving Up (03:57) 48 New Love (03:03) 49 Dont Think I Wont (03:13) 50 Stay in Control (03:26) 51 The Role I Choose (03:04) 52 Flowerpot (remix) (02:28) 53 Fire It Up (02:49) 54 Enterprize (01:07) |
 | Album: 7 of 8 Title: In Each and Every One Released: 2014-03-24 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:07:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Open See (07:05) 2 Be Free (04:31) 3 Chotpot (05:05) 4 They’re All Ks and Qs Lucien (07:18) 5 WW (04:22) 6 Lost in Death, Part 2 (04:57) 7 Maliana (08:38) 8 Lost in Death, Part 1 (06:51) 9 Life and Life (06:41) 10 Two Storms (03:32) 11 Sometimes (08:14) |
| In Each and Every One : Allmusic album Review : London-based quintet Polar Bear are often tagged as an "avant jazz" group, which is both correct and incorrect, leaning further and further away from being an accurate description of the kitchen-sink genre combinations that make up fifth album In Each and Every One. While still heavy on saxophone from tenor players Mark Lockheart and Pete Wareham, this album sees the band looking deeper into textures, sound manipulation, and the use of editing and electronics to expand their sound, moving farther away from anything resembling run-of-the-mill jazz. The album opens with "Open See," a seven-minute passage of angelic, ambient textures, water sound effects, and airy, floating sax lines. There are layers of organic instruments buried within the piece, but they come and go slowly, passing as gradually as ice melting on the first sunny day after a long winter. This piece acts as a meditation to clear the mind for the rest of the album, which quickly gets into submerged, almost hip-hop-leaning electronic rhythms on "Be Free." The songs spare groove of upright bass and shuffling, layered drums serves as a background for processed saxophones and blipping electronics. The tune eventually takes a turn toward jarring edits, recalling Aphex Twin or Squarepusher in their jazziest modes. The ambient tendencies continue on tracks like the moody "Two Storms," which finds simple bass and horn figures awash in sheets of caustic noise. The use of production and electronic treatment amplifies almost all of the tracks here, creating interesting pockets of unexpected tension and menace in what would have otherwise stood as somewhat straightforward compositions. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 8 Title: Same as You Released: 2015-03-27 Tracks: 6 Duration: 54:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Life Love and Light (03:09) 2 We Feel the Echoes (10:24) 3 The First Steps (05:24) 4 Of Hi Lands (07:40) 5 Dont Let the Feeling Go (07:30) 6 Unrelenting Unconditional (19:52) |
| Same as You : Allmusic album Review : Throughout Polar Bears recording career, the only constant has been change. Sebastian Rochford and company have used jazz to explore funk, hip-hop, dissonant improvisation, EDM, rock, and more. Same as You was recorded hot on the heels of 2014s Each and Every One -- nominated for a Mercury Prize -- and mixed by drummer Rochford and producer Ken Barrientos in the Mojave Desert, whose vibe inhabits these tracks. Same as You was originally conceived as a single piece and eventually separated into five cuts that still sound seamless and whole. There is a compelling meld of styles here, but the thread that ties its various elements together is the rhythm sections exploration of dub. Thats not to say that this is a reggae record; far from it. But the constant interplay between Rochford and bassist Tom Herbert simultaneously grounds and liberates saxophonists Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart and Leafcutter John on guitars and electronics to explore widely. It is far more relaxed than Each and Every One; the sound is also more organic despite the wealth of ambient and other electronics. "Life Love and Light" is a spoken word invocation by guest Asar Mikael (owner of a Jamaican cultural center, bookstore, and meeting place in London) accompanied by a single droning G chord played on an organ. Its genuine, heart-opening, positive vibes set the tone for the remarkable "We Feel the Echoes," a ten-minute slow bubbling slipstream of gorgeous saxophone interplay, rolling, laid-back breaks, and sonic ambience. Herberts upright double bass is mixed way up top, laying down an unforgettable groove to center it all. The meditative and melodic meandering all centers on him. "The First Steps" commences with Rochfords kit and electronics. Theyre joined by one tenor playing a round-like melody that would be right at home in Nigerian folk music. The second tenor enters and comments in a long back and forth as rhythms increase in density and variety; the lyric remains circular before the pair spirals off in different cadences and motifs and Herberts bass becomes the tunes beating heart. "Of Hi Lands" is an electronically drenched overture to the sets second half. Framed by Leafcutter Johns swirling electronics, Rochford and Herberts reflected accents bridge the saxophonists dialogic improvisations. On "Dont Let the Feeling Go," staccato tenor playing and tight harmonic bass are the hinges for propulsion by Rochford and a chanted vocal between the drummer and guest Shabaka Hutchings. Closer "Unrelenting Unconditional" is a nearly 20-minute jam that explores the dubwise connection right up front, with drums, percussion, and a trancey bassline that frame spacious Caribbean and Middle Eastern folk music through modal jazz. Same as You bears a less forceful signature than previous Polar Bear offerings, but it is also their most musically satisfying album. The attention to sonic detail and warm atmospherics, combined with the high level of harmonic invention and improvisational adventure, would be right at home on Manfred Eichers ECM label. | ||