It's a rare delight when music completely unknown to you pops out of thin air to become one of your favorite releases of the year. Not that I intend to give away the ending of this review or anything.
Like most music of genuine quality, the sound of Polar Life is a tricky one to define easily. The lead is taken by either piano and acoustic guitar (although sometimes both are used), while a minimalist approach to backing of sparse electronics and strings serves to complement the sound without ever crowding the mix away from a familiar closeness.
Sleepingdog work a delicate tracery of gently revolving notes, an almost Broadrick-esque centrifugal pull of repetition that focuses on tight melodic songs that rarely outstay their welcome. The vocals float on top of the mix, never quite becoming an ethereal shoegaze echo but drifting over the piano and guitar like fine mist.
To these ears, the songs that focus on the use of the piano as a main instrument are the superior tunes on the record. This is particularly true at the beginning of the album, where the likes of "Prophets," "Your Eyes," and "The Sun Sinks In The Sea" lull you into a soft bliss. However, a distinct sense of ubiquity is ever-present and gives the listener the impression that all the songs could quite easily have been written on either instrument. All the material on Polar Life comes across as simple I don't mean that in any derogatory sense, or to imply that there isn't a strongly developed sense of songcrafting on here. What I mean is that there is an element of purity to the material, an inherent gentleness that permeates each track..
At times it feels that more may have been made of the backing instrumentation (in particular I'd love to hear what could be done with incorporating more electronic elements), and there is something of a classic mid-album slump bookended by the finer material. There is no particular punch or vigor to the music, but in all honesty that's something Sleepingdog is better off without anyway. If you're after something beautiful to lay across your ear canal on a pleasant Spring morning, you could do a hell of a lot worse than this.
See also
Glissando, 27, Jose Gonzalez
