Send "Polar Bear Club " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Drownedinsound |
 Seeing as Polar Bear were born from an environment which has nurtured innovation and encourages deviation from constriction, it’s no surprise that they have consistently delivered excellent music. Germinated from the F-IRE (Fellowship for Integrated Rhythmic Expression) community of artists, this experimental five piece – led by virtuoso jazz drummer and composer Seb Rochford – build upon the values of their upbringing. While it can easily be argued that far too much emphasis is placed upon the need and the importance of originality for this case study to be the norm, it should still be pointed out and applauded as long as it isn’t merely for the sake of it. Human endeavour thrives on pretending boundaries are merely goalposts to be crossed, but nothing is achieved by just proving a point. It’s as much how you get there as where you’re going.This fourth record follows the group’s skittering, at times jarring, self-titled effort where exposed circuitry clawed at improvisation and silence, replicating musical tinnitus. This exhilarating claustrophobia has dissipated on Peepers, where initial tenor saxophone shapes billow out into characteristic swagger. ‘Drunken Pharoah’, then, is extraordinary. A broken, stumbling collapse laid to rest with malfunctioning machinery sounds and elongated discordant sax whistling. Yet, it sounds composed of these accidentals rather than resignedly improvised. This is Polar Bear’s rather understated yet explosive skill....full text |
| Musicomh |
| It's a fine line in modern jazz music between allowing yourself some artistic freedom and throwing caution to the winds without any thought for the listener. Happily Polar Bear's fourth album sees them very much in the former category, projecting their very souls into the homes of their audience. This is nowhere near as straightforward as it sounds, for on Peepers the band have managed to bring about a combination of exploration and intimacy, meaning they can be approached from several viewpoints. Those more used to electronica meanderings will have plenty with which to reward themselves, thanks to the careful studio work of Leafcutter John, while those who prefer more of a first principles approach will take much from the saxophone playing of Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart. The music has great personality, too. Drunken Pharoah staggers about aimlessly like someone looking for their bed in the dark, the saxophone buzzing around at head height like a mosquito evading capture. A New Morning Will Come moves closer to DJ Shadow territory, with its beat brushed out with an easy charm....full text |
| Guardian |
| In the same way as it was impossible to imagine an Art Blakey or Elvin Jones group without those two percussion geniuses, it's impossible to imagine Polar Bear with anyone but Seb Rochford on the drum stool. The once Mercury-nominated group's two tenor-sax lineup is certainly central to the meditative hum of its quirkily harmonised melodies, and the contrasting sax sounds of Acoustic Ladyland's Pete Wareham (raw, spooky, sometimes anguished) and Mark Lockheart (drier and more Wayne Shorterish) furnish plenty of contrast. But Rochford's mix of circus-oompah patterns, punchy funk with neatly-spliced jazzy offbeats and encyclopaedic world-rhythm references mean you could listen to this compelling set just for him. This fourth Polar Bear album, with electronics specialist Leafcutter John featured on rock-ballad guitar, takes their special story on. It has clucky one-note themes over accents like smashing bottles, wistful long-note reveries, car-horn sax choruses turning to free-jazz wails and solemn chants over finger-cymbal pings. Rochford deliberately minimised the studio preparation, and withheld the music from the band up to the last moment, and Peepers certainly reflects that freshness....full text |
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