POLAR EYES

I was first alerted to the band Polar Eyes by the German blog Coast is Clear back in early September. I found the songs that were available there highly promising, but was once again frustrated by the 96 kbps-quality of the MP3s. (It seems I'm becoming increasingly greedy in this area; and MySpace and EZArchive can kiss my pale, white ass.)

Regardless, I dashed off yet another urgent and imploring e-mail to a band that I knew next-to-nothing about. As happens only rarely, the band actually responded to said e-mail (perhaps out of pity). Turns out, they were in the midst just then of some serious music-making and picture-taking and bio-crafting. In short, they implored me to be patient and promised to get back to me.

I was. And they did.

So, now, we can present you with a couple of fresh and gleaming Polar Eyes tunes -- in top-notch quality. These should give you at least some idea what the band is capable of [though I'd also recommend that you mosey on over to their MySpace page (that damned, quality-skimping whorehouse of a site; it's got its hooks sunk into me still) and check out the slower, "softer" "Wait" -- for yet another angle on their audio].

Okay now, a bit of "Who," "What," "Where," "What's Next"...

Polar Eyes are T (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Phil Bellemare (lead guitar), Julian Woods (drums), and Elliot Kerr (bass and backing vocals). On the one side of their sound, they cite Weezer and Coldplay. On the other: Elliott Smith and Neil Young. They harken from the suddenly-it's-a-music-hotbed, Montreal. If all goes well, they'll have a single out by December, and an EP sometime in the spring.

[Till then, look for their "Hey Mary" to make a repeat appearance on my "Best of October" mix sometime this Friday. That guitar lick is positively Iggy-licious, circa 1979's "Five Foot One."]

[MP3] "Hey Mary"

[MP3] "Gabrielle"