if i had a second top ten list, or maybe just extended my current top 13 to say 20, polynya’s debut would definitely be residing somewhere on either list. for the past 4/5 months its been one of my go-to records that i have really found an appreciation for since my initial listen. first listen unfurled some pleasant surprises, but as i delved a little deeper with each repeated listen i found that the its more than just a nice arty/poppy record. the group dynamic, especially the vocal interplay, is way beyond the scant 5 years they have spent as polynya. check em out! great stuff, here’s hoping for more in 08.
luke was kind enough to sit down and answer a few hard hitting questions that i regurgitated from previous interviews.
cd: first, for those that arent familiar with polynya could you do us a favor and fill us in on who you are, where you are from, where you been, where you’re going, etc.
luke berchowitz: We are a five piece: Amelia (drums/vox), Andrea (keys/guitar/vox), Luke (guitar/vox), Thom (bass), and Pat (keys). Although all of our members either live in Durham (NC), Carrboro (NC), or Brooklyn, I would consider ourselves a Chapel Hill (NC) band b/c that’s where we play and it’s also where the radio station is (WXYC). Pat and I DJ at the station. We’ve been writing, playing, and recording for about 5 years. We focus on writing and recording, but we do play out from time to time. We are working on a new set of compositions that are pretty much complete and we’re going back to the studio in the next month. We also do a lot of lo-fi bedroom style recordings, which are helpful in figuring out the final arrangements. We have started our own label and we do everything ourselves from the recording/art/web programming/publicity/distribution and anything else you could think of.
cd: is it pronounced poly-ana?
lb: It’s Puh-lin-knee-ya
cd: one thing that i really dig about the record is that it doesnt sound like it was recorded in 2007. it reminds me quite a bit of the early - mid 90’s -which just so happens to be my personal favorite musical era. was this by design or just happenstance or am i really just stuck in the early - mid 90s?
lb: We had no intentions of recording to sound any specific way. We only wanted to capture the compositions as well as possible. Thom and I always fight a battle of lo-fi (which I prefer) and hi-fi (which Thom prefers) styles. Thom knows way more about recording and engineering than I do, so we usually do things his way. But, lemme tell you, we love some early 90’s and that’s when Thom cut his recording chops, so it’s no coincidence. MBV, Lush, Slowdive, Ride, Pulp, DM-Violator etc. are all huge influences on our recording strategy.
cd: outside of the musical world, what are some of your collective influences that have maybe helped define either yourself and/or polynya?
lb: I’d say that the Dada movement has had a big impact on our aesthetic because we like it so much. The whole idea that there is no distinction between what is and isn’t art and that chance can have as much impact as deliberation, all those modes of thought are integral to our style. Paul Klee has been a monumental inspiration for various reasons which I
could go into later. Amelia teaches art at an alternative K-12 school, and has a one-year-old so I know that kids are a big influence on her. Andrea studies complexity and randomness in art so all those guys from Dada to digital are big. We have absolutely no agendas outside of creating art that pleases us. We make it and let the chips fall where they may. A lot of us read comics. Science is a bit of an influence too, can’t escape that.
cd: when i need to fall asleep i usually start day dreaming about what records i would have love to been a fly on the wall during the making of - exile on mainstreet and bee thousand being two of my most favorite. what record would you have loved to have been witness to the making of?
lb: Oh jeez that’s a cool question. I’ll go with The Fall: This Nation’s Saving Grace. I’m sure there were a lot of high-fives during the making of that one. Runners up would be Can:Monster Movie and Bowie:Heroes. I’d love to see how those people work.
cd: what are you putting off today that you wont get to tomorrow?
lb: Exercising. Organizing my shit. Getting back on track with sleep. The usual.
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