After charming fans of freewheeling indie pop with their debut
Birthday,
Pom Poko get even more rambunctious and ambitious on
Cheater. Though the COVID-19 global pandemic prevented the band from road-testing these songs the way their constant gigging let them refine their debut, their second album still reflects their growing experience.
Pom Poko sound looser and more cohesive on these spiky fluorescent outbursts, and the way they turn the bits and pieces other bands wouldn't think of putting together into swift, dazzling collages is truly impressive. To challenge conventional notions of femininity on "Like a Lady,"
Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit adds a spoonful of sugar to her vocals, while
Martin Miguel Almagro Tonne channels the elephantine riffs of
the Breeders' "Cannonball." More often, though,
Pom Poko call to mind the experimental noise-pop acts that flourished in the mid-2000s, such as
Ponytail and especially
Deerhoof, to whom
Pom Poko were often compared upon
Birthday's release. Like that group, these Norwegians know how to turn a handful of minutes into a miniature epic, particularly on "Andy Go to School," a careening yet precise workout
Deerhoof would be proud to call their own. On "Look," they transform a walk outdoors into a bracing exercise in mindfulness, and when
Jamtveit sings "you can breathe, you can breathe" over
Tonne's crushing onslaughts, it feels like a reminder to stay calm even when things are anything but. Though
Birthday was full of audacious moves like the barreling interpolation of
the Beatles' "Day Tripper,"
Pom Poko shift gears more smoothly on
Cheater. The contrast between "Andrew"'s swelling keyboards and vocals and its staccato guitars and bass is so striking, it's almost visual. Here and on the other rare moments when the band catches their breath, like the elastic ballads "Danger Baby" and "Body Level," they display an appealingly alien beauty. It's not every day when a band makes a second album that's more thrilling than their debut, but
Pom Poko aren't an everyday band. Their tricks are always in service of their songs on
Cheater, and their excitement about the possibilities of their music is utterly contagious. ~ Heather Phares