CD Review: The Bloodpoets – Polarity

Review by: Lana Harris

The Bloodpoets   When playing poker, it’s not enough to be good at the game. To be the winner takes all, you need to maintain a certain level of unpredictability too. If The Bloodpoets music is anything to go by, these guys would make excellent poker players. The second single (and first track) from Polarity, ‘Just in Time’, bursts forwards with cinematic drama and a dark urgency led by Jake Parker’s bass. The brooding opening of this song then flows into a pop orientated chorus and harmonies, a completely unexpected development on first listen. But as the album thrusts forward, it becomes apparent that blending deep rock guitars with lighter sing along lyrics is what The Bloodpoets do.


The second track (and first single) ‘Borderline’, is a contagious rock tune that deserved its first single status, and scored The Bloodpoets Triple J and Rage airplay when it was released way back at the start of 2009. The tracks which follow it on the album, ‘Against the Wall’ and ‘Tryst’, would also be strong single material. Not a single note is wasted in any of these tracks; they’ve been cut to tight, lean rock tunes, and hint that The Bloodpoets energy would make them an awesome live act. Towards the middle of the album, the pace slows, but even these slower songs, such as the instrumental showcase ‘Straight Ahead’, would compel fans to attempt a crude harmonising with singer Thomas Murphy at a live show. By the final track, ‘My Paradise’ you can see an audience swaying along in its mellow arms.

Polarity demonstrates that The Bloodpoets have depth, and potential. This is not a band where every song is instantly recognisable as their own because they all have the same sound. The Bloodpoets use their five members well, taking the music beyond what a three piece can work with. The guitarists are not afraid of the top of the fretboard, they’ve got two vocalists contributing to the singing. Polarity has the breadth of those old Smashing Pumpkins albums, catchy quick rock that gives way to gentler, slower songs that only just have their rock heads peeping out.


The BloodpoetsThe Bloodpoets Polarity is available at iTunes