Dig on the Icypoles’ New Old-fashioned Style with ‘stayin’ Home’ [premiere]

The Icypoles – Stayin’ Home SoundCloud

If you’re going to work with only a few elements, you’d better make each one count — which is precisely what Melbourne four-piece, The Icypoles, do with their minimalist take on 60s girl pop. Combining playful basslines and a few light textures, their harmonies very gently deliver color and warmth to the otherwise placid scene. The magic is in their surprising sense of melodic timing and coy delivery that plays out in our heads like a Mona Lisa smirk set to some kind of sarcastic retro choreography. If they wanted to, The Icypoles could crank their distortion and easily transform into a late 90s Portland dream, but instead they devote themselves to dragging doo-wop into the now by putting a modernist touch on pop’s most simplistic era. It’s the new old-fashioned, and it’s delicious.

Listen to the premiere of “Stayin’ Home” from their upcoming record and see what we mean. The mellow tune retains even the sentimentality of the 60s as we hear from someone so lovesick she can’t even leave the house — and the theme sticks around for the entirety of their debut. The formula may not work in a lesser band’s hands, but The Icypoles’ severely cool yet modest attitude sets the tone at just the right amount of chill mystique to keep us transfixed. The Icypoles debut full-length, My World was Made for You, is out May 2nd, and you should absolutely preview it by listening to “Stayin’ Home” above.