Polarboy

Item: Back From Nowhere
Author: Bert Gangl

Back From Nowhere

(1998)

Reviewed by Bert Gangl

Discogs YouTube

Label Rustproof RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth1998

acoustic rock alternative rock jangle pop pop punk

The members of Polarboy, who met while studying to be youth ministers at Lexington Baptist College in Kentucky, began their musical careers performing at church youth assemblies and worship services. These early shows led to concerts at a more varied list of venues in Kentucky and the neighboring states, including a fall 1996 show at Rocketown Club in Nashville where the band members met talent scout Greg Menza. Enlisting Menza as their manager and performing at the 1998 Gospel Music Association Convention, the band was signed to Rustproof Records to record Back from Nowhere, their debut album.

Musically, the album falls broadly into the alternative pop category with the songs mostly being built around acoustic guitar textures coupled to tense, wandering bass lines and an often plaintive vocal delivery. For the most part, the instrumental work on the album is both energetic and infectious, but a good part of this energy is offset by the tendency to change the basic groove of each song too often. The stereotypical '70s wah-wah guitar effects of "Nickels for Green Eyed Girls" and the playful, '60s era vocal work on "In My Shoes," for example, infuse each piece with a heaped measure of retro pop buoyancy. But where the dynamic quality of the opening lines of "In My Shoes" is retained from nearly start to finish, successive shifts in time signature and musical style in "Nickels" and, indeed, the majority of the rest of the songs on the album, overturn the momentum created by their opening verses, leaving these numbers feeling as if they never quite come off the starting block.

Just as the musical attack on the debut album is often meandering, the lyrics too, suffer in places from the same sense of disjointedness. To be fair, the group uses a direct rather than an obtuse approach to the bulk of its songs, and the band's choice of general themes like dating, temptation and the love of money should resonate with both believers and nonbelievers alike. But where the subject matter for the album is certainly straightforward and familiar enough, the exact sentiment being conveyed on any particular song is, as frequently as not, obscured by unclear and often conflicting wording. "Do You Think," for example, uses emotive wording to describe feelings of loneliness and separation using the familiar story of Adam and Eve as a backdrop. But vaguely worded lines such as "Over the battle field to the end/Seems to me I thought, my friend, that we'll never know quite sure when" tend to mute the melancholy sentiment that the song seeks to convey. And the rapid shift in tone from mournful to nearly sarcastic causes "Nickels for Green Eyed Girls" to come across as more feigned than sincere.

Despite its various shortcomings, though, the album does have more than one jewel in its catalog. "I'll Try," with its opening acoustic guitar and vocals that positively bound out of the starting gate, and "Four Leaf Clover," which boasts soaring harmonies and a beautiful arpeggioed melody line, both stand as veritable templates for excellent power pop music. And the incisive comparison on "Babystarr" between a man's wishing for a passing woman's attention and God's longing for our own affection proves that the band is indeed capable of profound lyrical statements. In fact, crafting a superior follow-up album looks as if it could be done fairly easily by simply rummaging through the many combinations of musical and lyrical styles on the debut, choosing one that best suits the band, and then exploring it fully.

2.5 tocks