There is nothing more exciting than a band that arrives, fully formed, from out of nowhere and drops an album so exciting they head to the front of the indie line. Meet Polyenso. Formed from the ashes of Tampa hardcore band Oceana in 2012, they remade themselves into an a model indie band and on their haunting debut album, One Particular Loop, they raise the bar pretty damn high.
At its best, the brilliant and haunting "Falling In Rain" the band, Denny Agosto, Kolby Crider, Alec Prorock, Alexander Schultz and Brennan Taulbee, is big rime. A haunting horn which seems to have escaped from a Bryan Ferry 1880s album, and a shuffling, shifting drum patten, surround a deeply uncomfortable vocal.
The shock here is not just how great the band is but how far they've come, how they've steadied themselves and then changed direction and came back the other side. We wrote about established bands changing directions a couple of weeks ago but not established bands doing the same is more exciting and more interesting, it is like finding muscles you never knew you had. On song after song, Polyenso stretch and stretch and it is all the thrill of the new, and it sounds like no one else out there.
Polyenso are playing at Brooklyn's the Paper Box on Sunday March 10th, at 8pm, with Author and Walking Tree opening. And yeah, I don't much care for Sunday gigs either, but make an exception in this case -especially if you are still in college because Polyenso is a band that can last you a long time. The more you listen, the more things get your attention: ideas seem to float in and stay on beds of guitar.
Here is where to get tickers: http://paperboxnyc.com/event/224251-polyenso-author-the-paper-box-brooklyn/ $8 in advance, $10 at the door.
And here is the address: