Released: 24th January 2020
Rating: ★★★★
Policia’s third album ‘When We Stay Alive’ is a record imbued with all the intensity and emotional reflection a life-changing event can provoke.
In early 2018 singer and creative focal Channy Leaneagh suffered an almost fatal fall that left her immobile for months. The subsequent record that emerges after that dark period of uncertainty and pain is one of healing and hope, finding solace in yourself and the body’s ability to regenerate. It’s a lucid and perfectly measured collection of pristine synth-pop with just the right amount of discordant edge like on the pulsating opener ‘Driving’, while Leaneagh’s vocals sound strong throughout highlighting someone determined to make up for lost time.
There’s a deep meditative quality to the music here like on the glorious yearning ballad ‘Forget Me Now’ and the final three-song quiet storm that closes the record. Fully recovered and focused on her art, this is the sound of Policia reasserting themselves as masters of the synth-pop craft.
