Knowing Leaneagh’s and Olson’s background with Gayngs will give you some general idea of what they’re working with on Give You the Ghost. They focus more on R&B rather than the AM pop that Gayngs re-imagined, but auto tune still features prominently in the vocal arrangements, which you’ll either enjoy or hate. The pace of the album is a bit mixed as well, with some tracks purposefully pounding through the speakers, and others offering little more than a whimper.
Their best work comes on "Dark Star" and "Wandering Star", both are thumping club anthems that show off a gentle touch, and best exhibit how Poliça get quite a bit of sound from a sparse set up of synths and drums. Opener "Amongster" is a dark, brooding pop number that features some solid vocal work by Leaneagh and the most apt use of auto tune.
The weak spots on Give You the Ghost include the total overkill of auto tune on "The Maker", and "Violent Games" which seems to have the same aspirations as Beyoncé, but falls far short of her diva powers. The other major knock on Poliça is that, for the most part, this stuff is pretty monochromatic. Leaneagh’s vocals flow at the same tone throughout the album, something that really gets old after a while. Also, with an album as heavily indebted to R&B as this, one might hope for a banging, club dominating single, but there simply isn’t one here, nor is there anything that even approaches the smooth moves of Gayngs’ "The Gaudy Side of Town".
Simply put, if you were into Gayngs then this will be an easy listen, otherwise you might want to move on. The stronger material on Give You the Ghost hints at an untapped wealth of resources, but the stumbling blocks on this debut are plentiful, sometimes it just seems like Poliça are going through the motions.
Grade: C+
~Steve Dobek
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