Full of energy, unique sounds, and multi-faceted tracks, Pom Poko’s Cheater makes weird fun while also shining a light on some more interesting lyrical themes.

An album two years in the making, Cheater is Pom Poko’s innovative and exciting sophomore record and their second released under the Brighton-based label Bella Union. The four-piece Norwegian band have been playing together since 2017, after meeting at a jazz school and forming originally as a favour for bassist Jonas Krøvel. The writing of Cheater began around the time of the release of their debut, Birthday, which featured some of the most colourful experimental rock of recent times, and this latest release of theirs follows through with this sound, while also allowing for a little more variety and maturity. In terms of genre, Pom Poko are hard to put in a box: math rock, post-punk and noise pop are all influences present in their sound, but these labels still don’t quite get the whole thing. Feminist lyrics, incessant energy, and borderline yodel-like vocals peppered around this record also help to contribute to the unique aesthetic of Cheater.

“Cheater”, the opening and title track, captures this straight away. Opening with an abrasive yet warm guitar riff, the tempo is immediately set pretty high. With the different sections, it sounds like it could be a feel-good indie summer hit, a frantic thrash-rock banger or an underground weird-pop track – all in under four minutes. It’s hectic in a way that is quintessentially Pom Poko, but at times the transitions and tempo changes come off a little forced, meaning that the track doesn’t flow as nicely through these different sections as I’d want it to. That said, it’s still an exciting and unique opener for the record.

“Like a Lady”, the single which created the most noise ahead of the release of Cheater, is a real testament to Ragnhild Fangel’s idiosyncratic vocal delivery, as her soprano dips close to yodelling before delivering the powerful chorus over some heavy, riffy guitar lines. While the lyrics of “Cheater” also allude to the feeling of being put down and limited, this theme is much more evident here, with an openly feminist angle in there too, showing Fangel’s frustration at being pushed always to act “like a lady”, giving an attitude that borders on music from the riot grrrl era. The stop-start tempo is also executed in a much cleaner fashion here, leading to a feeling of ordered chaos in this track.

“Andrew”, which came about towards the end of the writing process, slows the pace down a little and introduces some more interesting synth sounds – including a cowbell. Despite being a fair bit less chaotic than the majority of the other tracks here, it still has a sense of grandeur and weirdness but is a welcome break to the high tempo of the record. However, this break does not last very long as we are tossed back in with the high-energy “My Candidacy”. Both of these tracks are, lyrically, love songs, but the former is sonically much sweeter and more tender, while the latter brings a real tonal contrast, with lines such as “You are the candidate I love” being delivered in an almost angry fashion, creating a weird sort of cognitive dissonance when reading the lyrics by themselves. This is particularly the case hearing them again in the final chorus, which will be a highlight of any Pom Poko concert once they are able to tour again.

The maturity in the lyrics of this album is shown at their peak on the moving track “Danger Baby”, which seems to detail an abusive relationship from the position of an outsider, possibly a friend of the abused. The perspective here shifts between anger towards the abuser and offering comfort to the abused partner in a very effective way. Though instrumentally it’s a little less interesting than many of the other tracks, this really allows the songwriting to shine. 

Over the second leg of the album, we get much of the same in terms of sound. But, unlike on some of the tracks on “Birthday”, each song has something of its own. For example, for “Andy Go To School”, though to me it is one of the weaker tracks, that is the staccato chorus; for “Look” it is the thrashy guitar solo. Despite this, they all have enough sonic consistency to contribute to the tightness of this album, and they build on a bit of a signature style, particularly slick stop-starts and transitions between noisy and quiet.

“Baroque Denial” and “Curly Romance” both feature particularly noisy instrumentals, really contrasting with the softness of Fangel’s voice. “Baroque Denial” has quite a sombre tone to it, particularly in the sparser section in the latter half, creating quite a jarring feeling when it picks back up again. What makes “Curly Romance” stand out is the crescendo that builds up towards the climax at the end of the track, as she repeats the line “If you wanna go, I will not, I will not believe that I am the only one”, showing a bit more vulnerability than what we are given in the first half of the album. It is also at this point with no lyrics published online for these tracks that I realise how difficult it is to decipher what Fangel is singing at many times.

The closer, “Body Level”, also takes us through many sections, starting off as a summery, funky track but, by the end, it sounds more sparse, dissonant and dejected, it feels like she has less hope that “things get better” in reality. Instrumentally, this is at times a very layered track, with the vocals and guitar mirroring one another, a bass arpeggio and syncopated drumming. It also features a lovely vocal harmony in one of the quieter sections. While it is not one of the stand-out tracks for me, it does still really show the level of musicianship Pom Poko has.

Full of energy, unique sounds, and multi-faceted tracks, Pom Poko’s Cheater makes weird fun while also shining a light on some more interesting lyrical themes. They manage to build on the sound developed on Birthday in a way that sounds novel while also not losing any of that previous identity. With the high tempo maintained through much of the album, it also benefits from its conciseness, clocking in at just over half an hour, just before you run out of breath. It’s just a shame the album cover is such a fucking eyesore.