Caroline Polachek’s "Pang" is an Explosive Solo Debut
by Kenny Cox
Caroline Polachek isn’t afraid to let you know how she feels. Ever since her beginnings working with Aaron Pfenning in the synth-pop duo Chairlift, Polachek’s lyrics have had a sharp emotional core, with songs about desire so strong it leaves bruises, to lyrics about causing scenes on the train in public. Her solo debut album, Pang is no different. Over 14 stellar tracks, Polachek channels her emotions into one of 2019’s most exciting records.
Co-produced with PC Music star Danny L Harle, Polachek’s debut takes what made her work in Chairlift so great — warm synths, deep bass, and Polachek’s wide vocal range — and refines it, creating a lush, gorgeously arranged album. Rich, opulent synths embrace the tracks while each beat on the album has crisp, crystal-clear rhythms that snap and crackle along. In interviews, Polachek has mentioned that clarity was the most important thing to her when making the album, and that vision is incredibly rendered through her razor-sharp production across the album’s 14 tracks.
To experience a pang isn’t to just feel something passively, but overwhelmingly, sharply, with every fiber of one’s being. It’s these kinds of emotions that dominate Polachek’s album— tears so powerful they fill entire oceans, screams of terror as the club closes down for the night, anxiety pushing her to jump from a plane into the unknown, clutching to a parachute for survival.
But Polachek isn’t intimidated by these intense feelings. Instead, she relishes in them. “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings” is perhaps the album’s best example of this, with Polachek turning her loneliness and need for connection into a slickly produced, irresistible pop anthem. Polachek’s voice reaches the highest ends of her register, wailing throughout the song’s bridge, but all with a sly sense of self-awareness the entire time. “I cry on the dance floor, it’s so embarrassing” sings Polachek, knowing fully how ridiculous she might sound, but remaining utterly sincere all the while Others, like the album’s title track “Pang”, bottle up Polachek’s emotion until it can no longer be contained, exploding at the chorus with glistening synths punctuating each drop of the album’s name. It captures the thrill of desire, pushing and pulling against the song’s beat until it cannot be ignored any longer.
Some of Pang’s most exciting moments come from when the electronic core of the album gives way to organic instrumentation. Take for example “Look At Me Now,” a ballad built around a vibrant acoustic guitar arrangement that beautifully compliments Polachek’s soaring vocals. “You can’t look at me now/a hand grenade to throw away” sings Polachek, and the song quickly becomes the emotional apex of the album. The combination of electronic and acoustic also results in more playful tracks like “New Normal”, an electro-country combination filled with pedal steel guitar and thumping beats. It’s these kinds of ingenious choices that make Pang stand out as a truly unique record.
As the album nears its end, all of Polacheck’s brilliant songwriting, production, and vocal talents combine together in what is Pang’s finest track, “Door.” Released as her debut single, “Door” is a sweeping, five-minute track that starts off relatively minimalistic before blossoming into a hypnotic, intoxicating ballad. As layers of electronic flourishes, shimmering synth lines, and even mandolin riffs build on top of each other, the song begins to feel as expansive as the infinite series of doors Polachek sings about running through. The song’s fantastic video shows Polachek strumming her mandolin in a surreal, utopian landscape seemingly of her own making, and “Door” is proof of her ability to make a musical world unlike any other.
Pang ends with the track “Parachute.” Polachek sings about leaping into uncertainty, tethered to a parachute to soften whatever blow might lay beneath her. But rest assured, Polachek has incredibly executed the landing of her debut record, making an album that takes her talents to a new dimension, creating some of the most forward-thinking pop that 2019 has to offer.