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4008 Artist:  Polarboy Label:  Rustproof Records

Everytime

I've been listening to Polarboy's new album, 4008, for almost three weeks now, and I'm still finding it nearly impossible to write this review.  The album is most certainly Southern rock, but I think there's more Lifes Rich Pageant than Second Helping to it -- various songs are colored with banjos, dobros and mandolins, and there's not a trace of the testerone riffs and banal lyrics common to Skynyrd.  Instead, Polarboy has apparently set out -- much as R.E.M. did a decade and a half ago -- to be the thinking man's Southern rock.  Polarboy will never be typecast as an R.E.M. soundalike, however:  lead singer Pol doesn't even sound remotely similar to Michael Stipe, and his lyrics are neither as clever nor as confusing.  

The band's music is not solely focused on the South, though.  The Switchfoot-esque "At Least I Tried" and "In the Name of," which is backed by a gospel choir, add variety to the album.  

Lyrically, much of 4008 (a puzzling title if ever I've heard one) revolves around transportation--3/4 of the songs make at least passing reference to driving or being driven, and those songs that aren't about transit tend to come across as dull.  Indeed, my two favorite songs are both heavily centered on driving:

    Rattlin' change on the nightstand
    Grab'n sleep wherever I can
    But the car is out in the driveway
    And I just can't stay

    These eyes of mine might be tired
    Though this headache of mine still hurts
    As the sky turns a blue-colored hue
    I like the night drives too
    ("Night Drives")

    I can't wait for the highway at five
    I'm taking it out on the rush hour drive
    And through it all, I have kept myself alive
    But I'm not going back, 'til Monday morning at nine
    ("Longer Weekend")

These lyrics may seem rather simplistic here on paper, but Pol's gruff-yet-melodic voice and the colorful instrumentation turn them into something special.  That could be the essence of this album (and good 
Southern music in general!):  taking simple elements and combining them to make something extraordinary.  

Michial Farmer 1/7/2001