Introducing Get To Know… Pom Poko

We’re also sharing the new Bella Union signings’ new single ‘Follow The Lights’.

4th September 2018

Hello and welcome to DIY’s introducing feature, Get To Know… With two new acts a week, the feature pretty much does what it says on the tin: getting you a little bit closer to the buzziest new acts that have been catching our eye as of late, and working out what makes them tick.

We recently spoke to London trip jam trio Peluché, Australian psych band Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, country-tinged singer-songwriter Jade Bird and brilliantly exciting new Brighton bunch Squid. Next up, it’s Pom Poko!

The Norwegians have been making noise for a while now, and the promise is solidified on new single ‘Follow The Lights’, their first for new label Bella Union!

The track fizzes along with taut, wiry guitars worming their way around spiky vocals, indebted to the ’90s but feeling wonderfully fresh.

Listen to the new track below and get to know the band a little better in our interview below.

Describe your music to us in the form of a Tinder bio.

Noisy and sweet, fun and outgoing.

What’s your earliest musical memory?

The Smurf Hits albums, with great pop tunes sung by smurfs. Especially a version of Boney M’s ‘Daddy Cool’ translated into a Norwegian song about the villain Gargamel.

Who were some artists that inspired you when you were just starting out (and why)?

We really like Deerhoof, Hella and Oumou Sangaré, and those inspire the music quite alot. But when we started out we tried to play punk like The Slits and bands like that, we weren’t that good at that, so it turned into something else. A lot of the bands we like make really catchy music, often wrap it in surprising and unpolished ways.

You’re based in Norway - what’s the music scene like there at the moment?

There’s a lot of different stuff going on in Norway at the moment, and lots of musicians coming from different conservatories, like ourselves, playing completely different music than what they’ve studied. Bands like Aiming for Enrike (an awesome guitar/drums duo), Monkey Plot (who make minimalist instrumental guitar-based tunes) and our labelmates Broen all make music that’s interesting and fresh and fun but also challenging.

Are there other artists breaking through at the same time that you take inspiration from?

Although we’re not necessarily inspired directly by Fieh, they are a great band that we’d like to mention. Their mix of soul, great pop sensibility and great instrumentalism is really worth checking out, and they are an awesome live band.

Who would be your dream collaborator?

We’ll say one each: Karl Ove Knausgaard, Lyle Mays (check him out [totally destroyed Pat’s career, but awesome synth sounds]), Isao Takahata, but first and foremost our real-time studio collaborator Marcus Forsgren, who is low-key technological creative master chef.

Musically or otherwise, what are you most looking forward to in 2018?

We’re really looking forward to releasing new music, since it’s been almost a year since the last time. Also looking a lot forward to playing lots of shows around Europe, since it’s always fun to meet the various audiences. Jonas, our bass player, thinks it’s gonna be exciting to watch how Iniesta’s career will decline in Kobe.

If people could take away one thing from your music, what would it be?

To have a great time, and remember that there’s no one true way to dance to it.

Pom Poko are off on tour this month, including dates with Darwin Deez. See them below.

15 Sep - Supersonic (Bastille Sounds Festival), Paris FR
22 Sep - Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg DE
23 Sep - FZW, Dortmund DE
26 Sep - Bi Nuu Thu, Berlin DE *
27 Sep - Kranhalle, Munich DE *
28 Sep - Artheater, Cologne DE *
29 Sep - Waves Vienna, Vienna AT
1 Oct - Village Underground, London UK *
10 Nov – Iceland Airwaves, Reykjavik IS
* w/ Darwin Deez

Tags: Pom Poko, Features, Interviews, Neu, Get to Know