Caroline Polachek for a grey and rainy Saturday – Recorded live at the Sydney Opera House on August 12, 2024.
I kept thinking there was something very familiar about Caroline Polachek and then I realized she was co-founder of the group Chairlift; a band I had much enthusiasm for when I first heard them in 2012. I ran a concert they did at the Dour festival and indicated Chairlift was where the future of Indie was heading.
Well, maybe not as Chairlift, but Caroline Polachek has certainly fulfilled my prediction that Indie is heading in some very interesting and thoroughly engrossing directions.
And that voice; the one that pokes holes in your expectations and leaves you gasping for air – yep, THAT voice.
Polachek’s influences have been described as “eclectic” by music critics. When asked about her earliest musical influence by Interview, she responded that it was “probably Enya“. Growing up in Japan until the age of six, she was exposed to traditional Japanese songs and anime themes, which she says were influential on her musical education; she stated that Japanese singing consists of “a lot of minor and pentatonic [tonality], with really angular melodies that I think really stuck in my subconscious”. She named Mishio Ogawa in particular as “one of [her] biggest influences”. Other vocal influences include Celine Dion and Matia Bazar‘s song “Ti sento“. She also credits riding horses as a child with helping her “[learn] a lot about rhythm and about voice”.
Polachek says that she “grew up kneeling at the altar of alternative music” and that Björk, Kate Bush, and Fiona Apple were her “absolute heroes” when she was a teenager. Her alter ego Ramona Lisa was inspired by “artists whose looks were inseparable from their music”, such as Nirvana, Marilyn Manson, and David Bowie. She named those artists, along with Björk and Busta Rhymes, as influences for her visual identity. She called Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout her “favorite lyricist” and stated that she is “very inspired by contemporary artists like Rosalía or Doja Cat, who play with sounds”. She also finds inspiration in “more abstract” domains beyond music, such as landscapes; in a 2024 interview with Out, she named swallows as her musical soulmates.
Polachek also named Kittie as one of her influences for her “straight-up grunge” song, “Starburned and Unkissed“.
So there you have it – if you didn’t already know, you know now – all that’s left for you to do is hit play and stare out the window. Perfect day to do that.
