Polock
Rising Up
Mushroom Pillow
Street: 04.08
Polock = Phoenix + Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – Bronze Radio Return
 
It’s June, ladies and gentlemen, and that means summer indie pop releases. Returning after their debut album, Getting Down From Trees, is Polock, the quintet from Valencia, Spain. We hope for maturity on a second album, and we definitely get it from Rising Up. The concern with a band that sounds so much like Phoenix that they could be related is that influences are excusable on a debut, but not so much down the road. Rising Up does not vary from their original sound one bit, and oddly, in this case, it works. The single, “Everlasting,” is an excellent song and much better than the material other bands in this genre have put out lately. This album plays well in its entirety, and I can just see the beach couples snuggling to its jams. Good job, boys. –Benjamin Tilton