Poliça, Village Underground, London

Poliça are in total control tonight. Nothing is wasted; the farthest corners of Channy Leaneagh’s vocals and every instrument’s potential are exploited and doubled over with samples and synthesised counterparts. Every inch of London’s Village Underground is throbbing with crisp, clear sound. Rich, thick lighting swirls tightly around each of Poliça’s four members individually as if to say, ‘yeah, it’s just the four of doing all of this’. It could easily be the work of twenty.

This is Poliça’s biggest strength; the sheer volume of their sound almost takes physical form and yet it’s never overdone. They’re capable of making the moments of silence woven into each track just as forceful as the complexity that surrounds them. Layers upon layers of technical prowess somehow stack up to make one complete sound that although rich and multi-faceted is flowing and clear.

That’s not to say there aren’t moments of aggression. Menacing numbers from the new album such as a the devilish ‘Top Coat’ juxtapose hostile, ominous synth lines against swathes of cheerful, rainbow-coloured lighting to give an odd sense of serenity and unnerve simultaneously.

The show opens with a triple punch of new material, only one of which has yet been heard. This confident approach to new tracks persists throughout with just a smattering of oldies and big hitters such as ‘Lay Your Cards Out’ and ‘Dark Star’ omitted. There’s no disappointment in the air though. Poliça are focused totally on the future, to dwell too much on the past wouldn’t feel right in this setting.

The new material feels bolder, Leaneagh’s vocals are clearer, less obscured by electronic meddling. Meanwhile instrumentation heads in the opposite direction; surrounding Leaneagh with a grittier, less settled sound as fierce blasts of synth wage an unwinnable war against tranquillity and tenderness.

Closing on an unrecognisably haunting and completely outrageous cover of Drake’s ‘Madonna’ and one of the few moments of nostalgia in the form of ‘Amongster’, an evening of what Leaneagh describes as her “one big night off” from her new baby is exactly that, it’s huge. In their absence Poliça clearly haven’t forgotten how to put on a show.