Project Description
POLISH CLUB
Okie Dokie
(EP Review)
Reviewer – Aaron Christensen
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Sydney soul-rock duo Polish Club, who only released their debut album Alright Already in March of this year, and nominated for an ARIA, just dropped a six-track EP, Okie Dokie. Their style of sweaty, raucous guitar and drums with powerful, soulful vocals is rife throughout, and trust me, you’ll struggle to find a more intoxicatingly emotive voice. Drummer John-Henry Pajak stated; “Our process is pretty quick and easy so we might as well keep up the pace,” but you’d never be able to tell given the quality of the songs and the crisp drums overlain with a fuzzy, driving guitar. The EP was recorded in a new location, Golden Retriever in Marrickville, Sydney. The band were able to capture a more ‘live’ sound, particularly with the drums, because of the high ceilings at the studio, which is particularly evident on the final track Dunno.
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When a friend first showed me Polish Club earlier this year – the absolute banger Come Party – I knew I’d enjoy their music. Throughout Okie Dokie, Polish Club show their ability to be a riotous, tongue-in-cheek rock band, but also their talent for simple yet nuanced melodies and instrumentation in slower songs such as Hard In The City and my personal favourite Back 2 U. Vocalist David Novak boasts the perfect blend of soul with a gravelly husk that gives Polish Club their edge, carrying the emotion behind the track to the forefront. The fifth track, The Apocalypse Twist is a cheeky, rockabilly-esque song that is essentially “a community service announcement about the effects of radiation on the body,” a concept that formed from waking to the news of a potential nuclear war.
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What Polish Club have served up throughout Okie Dokie is yet another taste of the soul-infused rock that will propel this duo to great heights. The sound generated by the band is reminiscent of artists such as INXS (particularly on slower tracks), a soulful howl similar to the breathtaking vocals of Charles Bradley, to the surf rock ‘fuck you’ attitude of FIDLAR, Polish Club don’t so much as blend soul and rock, as smash it together and serve it as raw as Novak’s vocals. I can honestly say that these six tracks are the best EP I’ve ever listened to. Polish Club just seem to have a knack of making incredibly unique music, with Okie Dokie having a distinguishable rockabilly tone and showing them to be a creative and emotive force in Australian music.
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Verdict:
4.5 stars
POLISH CLUB are touring nationally this December. Click here for details.
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