Pom Poko have returned with their much-anticipated third album Champion, which came out August 16 via Bella Union, and shared new single +video “My Family.” The entertaining video for the anthemic new single is a LP highlight. The video features footage shot by the band over many years of touring, filmed on a GoPro camera which has traveled with them everywhere, and edited by their friend Chris Helberg.
Commenting on the track Pom Poko say: “Our label boss and trusted mentor Simon Raymonde called this track our ‘Green Day track’, and I guess this is the most anthemic chorus we’ve ever made. The craziness in the rest of the track hopefully balances it out. Lyrically the song is about wanting a family and then discovering you can choose what a family is to you.”
Pom Poko are growing up. On Champion, a monumental slice of reflective and life-affirming post-punk, vocalist/lyricist Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit, bassist Jonas Krøvel, guitarist Martin Miguel Almagro Tonne, and drummer Ola Djupvik are the closest they’ve ever been, both personally and in terms of their hermetically tight four-piece rock instrumentation. When most bands call each other “family”, it’s a bit of a cliché—but with Pom Poko, after years of touring the four corners of the world and instituting a stringently democratic songwriting process, they really have evolved into one highly-synchronized unit, whose mission is to stay as true to their artistic values as possible while continuing to explore the farthest reaches of their slightly chaotic, always exhilarating sound.
“It feels like we’re maturing and growing up together,” explains Ragnhild. “By the time this album comes out, we’ll have been a band for eight years. It’s like we’re evolving. When you’re not grinding with the band all the time, you gain an appreciation for what you’ve built. It’s like a very weird and really lovely little gang to hang out in. I almost feel like we’re superheroes—it’s like being a part of Powerpuff Girls.”
Are you rocking with “My Family” from Pom Poko?
