Too Sentimental For You

Pom Poko “Andrew”

Pom Poko are a band that clearly loves to keep a listener on their toes by constantly shifting up their arrangements and tossing a lot of sounds at you, and as such they run a high risk of producing cluttered, annoying songs. They sidestep this mainly by sticking to dynamic shifts that keep the focus on the core melodies of their compositions. “Andrew” has a particularly strong set of hooks, the best of which – “love is the, love is the, love is the…” – is ultimately just a very lovely bridge into the proper chorus. I am very fond of the way the band contrasts Ragnhild Fangel’s high breathy voice with lead guitar lines that feel a little rude and messy, these blurts of melody that feel spontaneous but are in fact deployed with canny precision.

Buy it from Bandcamp.