#channy leanagh

Recent interview I did for Everguide

If I were to compile a superfluous list of standout albums for 2012, Poliça’s Give You the Ghost would receive a crowning glory. Riding on the coat tails of alternative electronic music’s positive reception in recent years, four-piece Poliça have burrowed their way into the ears of many a music critic. Their freshman release is barely a year old, and Bon Iver’s described them as, “the best band I’ve ever heard,” while Pitchfork birthed this ambitious aphorism: “Fiona Apple fronting TV on the Radio". When a relatively unknown vocalist is compared to the likes of a '90s veteran chanteuse, one gets a sense of the pressure she might feel. On the phone to Poliça’s frontwoman Channy Leanagh from her home in Minnesota, USA, I can hear the disbelief and exhaustion seeping through the line. Channy is a classically trained musician who used to play the violin. It’s hardly preparation for the exposure from being a feature on Jay-Z’s blog. She’s softly spoken to the point of barely audible and breathes humility, her voice trailing off intermittently. I’m feeling like she doesn’t really want to talk to me. Or maybe she’s tired after a long day of interviews. Or, perhaps more accurately, feeling the strain of a fast-forwarded rise to fame.