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POLAR BEAR

Polar Bear

Same As You

    Given its short gestation, it is striking how far removed the new album is from its predecessor . After the dark complexity of recent output, Same As You is startlingly fresh, as inclusive and accessible as the title suggests, while still maintaining the playful experimentation on which the band has made its name.

    Originally conceived as a single longform piece, the tempo remains constant but does not prevent the band from producing swells of raw, joyous, life-affirming energy within these self-imposed limits.

    The vocal performances and the heartfelt, spiritual lyrics are an inspired addition to the rich instrumental mix: Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart (tenor sax), Tom Herbert (double bass) and Leafcutter John (guitar, electronics), with Shabaka Hutchings (Sons Of Kemet, Melt Yourself Down) making a guest appearance.

    The album’s lead single ‘Dont Let The Feeling Go’ sees Rochford take on vocal duties alongside a choir of friends and collaborators: it’s Polar Bear at their most direct.

    The use of vocals may catch the ear but that should come as no surprise given that Rochford has enjoyed working with singers as diverse as Beck, Spoek Mathambo, Paolo Nutini and Rokia Traoré over a 15 year career that has seen the drummer, composer and producer emerge as a pivotal figure in contemporary British music.

    Recorded by Rochford in London, and mixed in the Mojave Desert with Ken Barrientos late 2014.


    Polar Bear With Jyager

    Common Ground

      "Common Ground" is a collaboration between Sebastian Rochford’s Polar Bear and young London hip-hop MC Jyager. This nine-track, 25-minute mini album is the follow up to the highly acclaimed fourth Polar Bear album "Peepers", their first for The Leaf Label. "Common Ground" strips down original tracks from "Peepers", using samples taken from a vinyl copy of the original album to build new compositions, and then adding Jyager’s unique flow.


      Polar Bear

      Peepers

        The album was inspired by classic soul as much as the influences of jazz, rock, folk and electronica that permeated previous albums and brought Polar Bear to a young and diverse audience. Polar Bear’s second album, "Held On The Tips Of Fingers", was nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music prize nomination and was named as one of Jazzwise magazine’s 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World, and one of The Guardian’s 1000 Albums To Before You Die.

        Bandleader Rochford is one of the most respected percussionists working in contemporary music, winning a BBC Jazz Awards Rising Star award in 2005. He plays with Acoustic Ladyland, Fulborn Teversham and Basquiat Strings, among others. He has worked with everyone from Joanna MacGregor and Andy Sheppard, Brian Eno and David Byrne, to Pete Doherty and Herbie Hancock.

        Pacheko

        Tryouts / Bi Polar Bear - Inc. Cardopusher & Starkey Remixes

          Enter Pacheko, of Caracas, Venezuela. A long time producer and supporter of the breakcore sound in his homeland, his sound has slowly adapted to dubstep with exciting effects. Musically, "Tryouts" and "Bi-Polar Bear" are similarly structured to the golden era Moving Shadow (Think Hyper-On Experience's "Disturbance" applied to dubstep), with each track revealing a series of distinct movements. "Tryouts", for instance, starts out quite aggressive, yet ends dubby. Pacheko shares an office in a design firm in Caracas with Cardopusher, and once he heard what was being plotted up with Lo Dubs, he threw his hat in the ring and rapidly presented a positively scorching remix of "Tryouts" for the flipside. About the same time, Philly ruler Starkey was working on a remix for Cardopusher on Terminal Dusk, and when his dubstep-to-four-beat-bassline-eight-minute-and-change epic remix of "Bi-Polar Bear" was added to the pyre, the circle was complete.


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