Style 43

Polar Bear @ Colston Hall, Bristol.
April 20th 2008

Polar Bear were gripping from the off. The quintet, made up of drums, double bass, two saxophones and a laptop, entertained the small gathering in Bristol’s Colston Hall with devastating panache. In fact, the gig took place in the bar, with about 10 rows of seats and a smattering of people gathered at the sides. And it was the perfect setting; intimate, friendly and mesmerizing all at the same time.

Essentially Polar Bear fall under the jazz banner, with slow melodic sax lines underpinned by walking basslines and intricate drumming. It’s easy to see the influences of Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Charlie Parker, with all musicians at the top of their game. But Polar Bear also go off in uncharted directions more often than not, giving them more commercial appeal than traditional jazz groups. All this is due to the electronic manipulation, which delayed the sax lines off into infinity, added vicious glitches over the beats or created brooding atmospheres before the bend leapt off on another musical journey.

On one track, the laptop aficionado, Leafcutter John, played a cymbal with a violin bow, creating sounds reminiscent of a Tibetan monastery. Later on, he introduces the screeching of a slowly deflating balloon into the mix. But it’s the manipulation of the live instruments that really sets Polar Bear apart. Occasionally, a few samples are taken on the fly and thrown back across the tracks in twisted forms. During another track’s close, the looping back of an earlier section, with the band adding further layers, created a wall of sound that was nothing short of euphoric.

Outside, during the short fag and booze break, I caught one of the saxophonists talking to a fan. The sax-man was humble and a little overwhelmed by the positive comments he was receiving. It’s little wonder, however, as the fan did say: ‘it’s almost going beyond music really.’ Whatever that means! But the saxophonist did add some interesting things about the Bear’s creative process. ‘The chemistry between the players always changes,’ he said, ‘and, although the melodies remain the same, the songs change every time we play.’

The second half of the gig was more up-tempo, with deep grooves, wailing saxophones and broken laptop noises. In fact, the songs cross so many boundaries, including hip-hop, drum n bass, punk, metal, electronica, dub and leftfield, that it’s a little hard to define their sound. If you held a gun to my head, I’d say that there are elements of other innovative acts in there, including the Quantic Soul Orchestra, the Bad Plus and the Cinematic Orchestra. Yet, it would be unfair to say that Polar Bear sound like anyone else. They’re in a class of their own. Frequently they’ll give you memorable lines, make you forget all about them, and bring everything back when you least expect it. All you can do is smile.

Review by Craig Hitchings.

http://www.myspace.com/sebastianrochford

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