With the incredible upsurge of energy that was Weeeeeeeeee!!! it’s hard to believe that POLYSICS’ last album hit the shelves back in December 2012. Luckily for fans the world over, the mad synth-poppers were back on January 15th, fresh from their world tour last year and apparently still bursting with more English, Japanese and who-knows-what-language than you can shake a stick at! So, without further ado: lights, camera, ACTION!!!
The album sets off at a pace with the intro track, unsurprisingly titled ‘ACTION!!!’, providing a background to the opening songs that sounds like the entire Tron soundtrack sped up and welded into one. Drummer Yano takes a lead role in powering furious rhythms throughout ‘MEGA OVER DRIVE’ (another appropriate title), matched by speedy bass lines from Fumi and more vocoders than ever, often competing for attention with Hayashi’s half-spoken lyrics.
As is typical of POLYSICS, most of the tracks are no longer than about three minutes- too much more would of course be exhausting for the band, and potentially wearying for the listener too. POLYSICS’ genre-mixing seems to get increasingly extreme with each major release, and ACTION!!! references pop, punk, techno, dance, chiptune and probably a handful of genres I’ve never even heard of. The only problem with such broad experimentation is the progress towards chaos that many of their songs seem to embark upon. However, moments of true freshness keep the tracks from blending into each other. ‘Post Post’ is a good example, where distinctly Daft Punk-style vocoders meet jumpy verses and sudden silences to keep us constantly on our toes. Throw the sparkliest chorus of the album into the mix, and ‘Post Post’ ends up one of my top recommendations.
For fans of POLYSICS’ rock numbers, ‘Number Zero’ and ‘Sparky’ are the strongest examples, featuring some catchy guitar riffs and hyperactive solos that provide interesting contrasts against the 8-bit effects and funky bass. And for the techno-fans, ‘Hakken doubutsu tankentai’ provides the surreal vocals, pulsing beat and synthesizer-driven solos that will build listeners up to an exciting climax and sudden drop (although the development is on the slow side).
Everything becomes a bit hallucinatory around the instrumental ‘Rhythm’, and the twelve-track album begins to trail off around ‘How To Be Good Boy’, which persists with bass-led rhythms and decorating bit-tunes that fail to build to much more than what you hear in the opening. Similarly, the chaotic patterns of ‘Don’t Stop Johnny’ bombard the listener unrelentingly, and the heavily repetitive sections become almost headache-inducing (although a lot of fun to attempt dancing to). We’re just too worn out by the polyphonic ecstasy by the time these tracks come round!
Luckily, ‘Turbo Five’ sees ACTION!!! to its climactic resolution, and just happens to be my other recommendation for the album. It shares the madness of ‘Don’t Stop Johnny’, but somehow manages to organise it into a fist-pumping funfair ride, with much denser instrumentation, crashing cymbals and a rollercoaster of an outro that sends the album out with the bang it deserves. Now, both the band and their fans can sit down for a well-earned rest.
Or can they? POLYSICS already have festivals and concerts popping up all over their schedule, and still aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. Overall, ACTION!!! is a great start to 2014 for the band, and I sincerely hope that more of the same is in pipeline. The standout moments come mostly from Fumi’s magnificent bass lines, and the peppy choruses that are dangerously addictive. So, if you’re looking to delve into a video-game paradise with a few guitars thrown in (and an orange boiler suit), I am happy to announce that you have arrived at your destination.
Words by Lauren du Plessis