- Four years and growing steadily with each outing, San Francisco’s darkchild Polare sees its first album release with “Digerati.” Comprising of two young and promising talents, Polare is lead by Danny Codella (20) and Thomas Hinderlie (21). The par first met in the mid-to-late 90’s with the love of 80’s synthpop. Influenced at an early age, Codella and Hinderlie sought refuge with rock bands that hinted with electronic sounds. But it wasn’t until Hinderlie gave Codella a listen of Quivver’s “Stage One,” that fused and inspired the two to join with the underground revolution that was taking place. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area has aided them with the advancement of meeting with a few of the local talent. DJs and producers: Christopher Lobsinger, Jonathan Beech, Kramer, and Jondi (one-half of Momu) are among those who has leant their support for the twosome. Now with “Digerati,” Codella and Hinderlie can share their sound from those dancing at the clubs to those at home listening on their headphones.
I Want This to Last starts like an opera. With its tribal drum patterns and ethereal hymns. Trippy melodies rise with dark stabs of Jeremy Tarrodaychik’s voice in the backdrop will connect to Instinct as if it were one standalone track. Track 2 sees very heavy doses of electronic stabs that soars the track nicely in the early stages of the album. Sacrifice is the team’s homage to their favorite band: Depeche Mode. Lily Burns’ vocals punish the ear with her seductive voice. The female counterpart of David Gahan, it’s her voice that keeps you entice with the track. It keeps it interesting. Gridlock starts with a green soundscape that grinds into an 80’s synthfest that suddenly furnishes with a blizzful ambient breakbeat. From there it goes on to Against Time. This piece of music feels like a rollercoaster ride. Having its ups and downs. Metro is the standout track in the album and the most dance-friendly as well. Destructive four-to-the-floor b-line merging with Charlie May like melodies and dynamics – my favorite out of the ten. Flora is a trance track that manipulates itself into a breakbeat. The weakest track out of the ten, mixing Flora with Everything in Between was bad. You can tell the switch and the shift feels artificial. Everything in Between is an 80’s song all the way. Overused synths flood this track in less than stellar effect. The track lags a bit longer than it should with its drum loops. I Want You To is another one of those deeper and darker sounds that is heard throughout “Digerati.” Jeff Lopes vocal are hypnotic. Lexicon Avenue should seek out the talents of this man, as he would be a fine fit to lay down some vocals for the New York dark tribal team. The final track, Paradise True ends it all with strange howls and a deep house vibe.
The aftermath is an amalgam of dark breaks fused with 80’s inspired synths and melodies. Building from the ground up, “Digerati” is a tornado sweeping everything that gets in its way. The album works quite well together as a journey into a mysterious chasm. As separate standalone pieces of music, each song lacks the intensity that the whole piece offers. Many of the tracks feel unfinished and broken up so that it can blend into the next track. The first two tracks is a prime example. Together it sounds ace, but separately, “Instinct” takes a dive as it loses the luster that it had when listening with “I Want This To Last.” You get the sense that it’s trying to be a mix album; tracks abruptly end or fade out too hastily. Most tracks don’t surge together to make one seamless mix as Polare would like it to. It disrupts the listener’s state of grace. Unlike Sasha’s Airdrawndagger where pieces can be felt alone or turned into a space odyssey when unified collectively – “Digerati” lacks a certain flame that’s in ADD. Nonetheless, the track-by-track alignment is superb. A good effort from the Polare in their debut, but they still need to polish and smooth out the edges. Hopefully, with the reissue stated out soon with additional unreleased tracks, they will correct any of the faults that live within “Digerati.”
Track list:
01. I Want This To Last ft. Jeremy Tarrodaychik
02. Instinct
03. Sacrifice ft. Lily Burns
04. Gridlock
05. Against Time
06. Metro
07. Flora
08. Everything in Between ft. Jeff Lopes
09. I Want You To ft. Jeff Lopes
10. Paradise True ft. Jeff Lopes