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| Contactmusic |
 Getting Down From The Trees opens with 'High On Life', which instantly sounds flavours of the likes of Friendly Fires and Phoenix. Powered forward by a Strokes-esque indie drive in the blend of guitars, drums and funky melodic bass parts, as its title suggests, 'High On Life' is an inoffensive feel good track, perfectly ripe for the summer. 'Fireworks' continues in a similar vein, think Phoenix, MGMT et al; Polock, a band hailing from Valencia, Spain, have clearly infused the sun-loving, feel-good, European feel into their music.'Nice To Meet You' opens with a slower solo electric piano introduction which sounds resemblance to some of the rarer early Keane stuff ('Under The Walnut Tree' etc). The track builds layer by layer; beat, bass and more layers of synths then guitars, with a Theremin-like synth melody leading its' extended instrumental introduction, before the song kicks in again with a summer-infused Strokes kind of vibe and a poppy chorus. Later, 'Sometimes' starts with bass and vocals over a percussive muted electric guitar pulse. Already the album has established the clean, precise synths and production of contemporary synth pop combined with hints of a grungier, fuzzy, lo-fi indie guitar blend. 'Faster Love' is ironically a slower, more gentle track in contrast to it's' title, opening with strummed guitar and vocals before launching into a chorus that really exposes the vocals and the heavily accented English. Towards the close of the album, the same-y, repetitive nature of Polock's writing unfortunately begins to grate. With the exception of the odd suggestion, there's no real change of pace which is a shame given the overall vibe and production of Getting Down From The Trees is sound. 'Tangerines And Unicorns' is notable only for its' cleaner, less treble-heavy sound and dominant, active bass part beneath, whereas 'Tender Lies' grows out of a bed of echoing picked guitars into a split-vocal chorus and later into a catchy outro complete with powerful pounding bass. The largely instrumental track 'Defenceless' is again pretty monotonous and dull, never really seeming to move to anything with its only notable point of interest being changes of time signature. Finally, 'Nightshot' forms a just as indifferent conclusion as the tracks that preceded it. Conclusion; good for passive, summery-vibe background music, but an album that could have been so much more....full text |
| Bbc |
| Valencia-based five-piece Polock are purveyors of sprightly, summery indie-pop; writers of the lightweight kind of easy-on-the-ear, fuzzy-at-the-edges hooks and melodies which have served the continental likes of Phoenix so well in the past. They clearly take several cues from the other side of the Atlantic, too – nods to The Strokes aren’t exactly abundant, but certainly noticeable when made, such as in the choppy, trebly guitars of Tenderlies – but deliver a sun-kissed sound that is as reliant on their home country’s clement climate as it is any emissions from another country’s scenes. Similarities to evident influences can always be forgiven on a debut – despite increasing pressure on new bands to deliver something of satisfying substance at the first time of asking, it’s generally unlikely that an initial LP will be a definitive statement. Unless, of course, you’re called Arctic Monkeys; or, indeed, The Strokes. Fans of both will find plenty to enjoy here: the rise-and-fall bass bounce of Defenceless is certain to set the stiffest of toes tapping; Fireworks is all hand-claps and smile-along positive vibes, perhaps the closest this set comes to matching the vibrancy of Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus… album; and Sometimes possesses a carefree instrumental swing that acts as an upbeat counterweight to the lyrical melancholy at play. If one was to be incredibly harsh on Polock, they could conclude that Getting Down from the Trees offers nothing new, and subsequently should be relegated from the ever-expanding throng of rising acts worth keeping at least one ear tuned into. But originality is only one factor in the success of a band – it’s not like the incredibly popular likes of Friendly Fires and Kings of Leon aren’t essentially a clever combination of box-ticking constituents – and so splendid is the execution here that the Spaniards can be confident that a second album will be warmly welcomed. If they’ve not found more of themselves amongst the commonplace cornerstones propping this LP up, then critics will gladly stick the knife in. But, for now, there’s gleeful enthusiasm enough to carry these five musicians into at least a minor cluster of hearts....full text |
| Thelineofbestfit |
| The shamefaced Guilty Pleasures movement focused on the mid-70s for two glaring reasons: firstly, progenitor Sean Rowley and his pals grew up during the period, furtively listen to Carole Bayer Sager and the Gallagher & Lyle while outwardly professing love for, ooh, maybe the New York Dolls and Can; and secondly, times were unprecedentedly rich for pop music, as lessons learned from The Beatles coalesced into the afterburn from harmonic West Coast rock and the great singer-songwriters of the Canyon. Natural touchstones of the era like Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, 10cc and Electric Light Orchestra became synonymous with a smooth, open-hearted music that wasn’t exactly cool in its professional sheen and big, obvious hooks, but was certainly easy to love. Whether you were prepared to admit it was a matter for you and your peers. The very concept of being embarrassed about music you adore has thankfully taken a kicking recently – and much of this is down to the French, who haven’t exactly been strangers to naff themselves. Daft Punk and Phoenix, in particular, have reclaimed those silky FM sounds and added a light dusting of credibility to make everyone feel happier about the whole thing. And now it’s the turn of the Spanish. Polock were formed under the Valencia sun, growing up clearly enamoured with some golden age of melodic rock and, more recently, the concise, sparkling pop of Phoenix themselves. Phoenix’s knack of leading the tune with expressive guitars over shimmering synth chords is all over Getting Down From The Trees, which brims with the hooks and joy of a natural summer soundtrack. In Papu Sebastián, Polock boast a singer with more obvious emotional range than Thomas Mars, but otherwise – and no bad thing either – they’re the perky equals of their Gallic cousins. It starts with a rush, a blast of organ breaking out of ‘High On Life”s fluffy intro, Sebastián’s heavy accent immediately loveable. The music is an eiderdown of feelgood, the lyric more a pep talk for a loner. Whatever the mournful undercurrent, you can only come out of this refreshed and the mood is sustained, consolidated and built upon by single ‘Fireworks’, which appears machine-tooled to send shiver after shiver up the spine. This is where Phoenix are most influential, with echoes of the unstoppable ’1901′ in bursting bubbles of hook, and there are similar tricks on ‘Sometimes’ and its simple, swinging chorus, “Sometime I love you / And you make me feel so mad”. Polock find the pleasure receptors with ease....full text |
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