Album Review: Polica & s t a r g a z e - Music For The Long Emergency

In 2010, LCD Soundsystem told us that This Is Happening. Now amid political fallout and national insecurity, US band Polica demand to know How Is This Happening?

A concept album about political and cultural conflict in America, Music For The Long Emergency is built over some beautiful arrangements written and performed by the loose-knit collective of classically trained Europeans s t a r g a z e. Their paths first crossed when Polica toured their previous album United Crushers in Berlin. Be it chemistry, fate or something in the tap water, something must have clicked as three months later they were collaborating on stage.

The process appears to have worked like a cathartic spring clean for Polica, as the live strings and zesty orchestrations clear out the increasingly stale synthesizers of United Crushers with the new colour and vitality. There are beautifully human moments, such as the opening Fake Like, contrasted with the adrenalised invective overload of Cursed. Agree is perhaps the show-stealer though, a chamber-pop piece of overwhelming sweetness.

After a difficult and sometimes dispiriting third album, Polica's rejuvenated sound and spirit suggest that their best may still be yet to come.