Penguins Kill Polar Bears

Penguins Kill Polar Bears

Building Homes From Broken Bones

(So Say We All)

There is no question that Penguins Kill Polar Bears understand who they are. They make all the right references to Mogwai and Aerogramme and have much in common with similar post-rock effects-heavy Scots bands such as There Will Be Fireworks. They fit in well; maybe too well. But while they probably will not have heard of them, their echo-filled, soft-soft-loud dynamic has more parallels with the early work of Puressence and Kitchens Of Distinction. The gloom is all-pervading, death is always round the corner and even God takes a kicking, but ultimately there is redemption, as songs such as Blunt and Source reveal a much-performed but still jaw-dropping trick of teasing and cajoling with hooky sparce licks before ending in an electrifying Armageddon of cascading guitars. On their debut, the Linlithgow four piece have produced nine tracks of intelligent, breast-beatingly glorious beardy post-rock which, while not reinventing the wheel, at least has the conceit to have a jolly good stab at it.

Martin Williams