The juggernaut puzzle piece of art punkery that is "Halibut" (as well as the accompanying magnetic midnight movie-esque DIY Official Video) by Bristol based Polemics is so incredibly dense with feral tinged progressive guitar and drums and Nathan Smith's and Jeff Ingle's frenetic bipolar vocal gymnastics that it satisfies so many art punk urges. Musically speaking Polemics know how to fuck shit up.
I like the boy's influences which include Mars Volta and Smashing Pumpkins but the off kilter barrages of sound so tightly wound and the wide eyed weirdness made me think of L.A. based 80's Oingo Boingo who melded dark humor and vices into their musical theatrics. Polemics crank much harder but there is a shared artistic DNA (in my mind) whether they realize it or not and maybe a deep shared collective well of early odd rock like Frank Zappa and Pere Ubu and current heavy punch post punk bands in the IDLES vein.
"Halibut, (is) a song about animal suffering, not in a preachy way, “I eat meat myself” says Nathan, “it’s more just about how ridiculously unethical factory farming etc is, kind of like a comedy horror”.
[The CONFLICT EP, featuring ‘Halibut’, is available on all digital platforms via AWAL as well as in Limited Edition back-to-the-future cassette editions (starting with baby-pink) via Bandcamp and the band's website. The cassette comes with a postcard and a free
download of the album. The tape also features a 4th track, the next single ‘Hegemon‘, only available on cassette until its official release later in the year. .
* There’s also some very limited bundles of Cassette + Walkman/Cassette players!]
-Robb Donker Curtius
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Bristol has a rich heritage of cultivating musical talent. It’s a proudly independent city - the kind of city that chucks statues of slave owners in a river - and now from Bristol, come Polemics, a duo whose powerful DIY punk ethic has been showcased in a succession of ferocious live shows.
Polemics are Nathan Smith and Jeff Ingle, school friends united by Enter Sandman. They’ve played Dot To Dot Bristol, Stagfest and Bristol Harbourside Festival and now Polemics are an exciting emerging fixture of the Bristol live scene.
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