#polycat

Polycat - 80 Kisses (2016)

In Only Friends Sand and Ray bond over the mutual appreciation of Polycat (yes, that's my takeaway from this scene lol, don't look at me), so I've spent some time with 80 Kisses, the band's most popular album I presume. And you know, it's titled like that for a reason. If Ray is into Micro and city pop vibes - this is what 80 Kisses has to offer.

The album screams the 80s so much that I gave myself a whiplash digging through my memory and comparing the songs to the stuff I know, but boy it was fun. Here are some random impressions because I feel the need to scream about it.

เพื่อนพระเอก | Goodfella has such a fun, funky bassline. The synths in the song's intro made me think of a classic city pop (think Anri for example).

ซิ่ง | Friday on the Highway (my personal fav) has the pulsating energy of Kim Wild's Kids in America. I just love its fast pace and ear-catching chorus (harmonies, yay!). The MV for this song is so dope too! It's as if Joss Wayar transported himself back to the 80s to star in Footloose instead of Kevin Bacon.

If you listen closely to ปืน | Pistol at around 0:21 you can find the same sound (high-pitched synth?) that is most known from Whitney's I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

The chorus of the main single (and the most popular Polycat's song according to Spotify) เวลาเธอยิ้ม | You Had Me At Hello lodged itself in my brain because I was so sure I have heard some similar arrangement/chord progression before. It struck me today that it carries a shadow of Lenny Kravitz's It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over (yes, that song is from '91 but it still represents a transitional period).

We even have a beloved (or beloathed) star of the 80s, saxophone solo, in มันเป็นใคร | Alright.

Oh, and did I mention a guitar solo during the finishing power ballad เป็นเพราะฝน | Teardrop? There is one.

Obviously, these are my very own, very Western thoughts. I have certainly overlooked an obvious Thai angle (as mentioned, there is probably a ghost of Micro hanging around those harder-hitting guitar riffs). Also, while I am having fun dissecting those songs from the past decade's point of view, the album holds up on its own as a 2016 release. It's a fresh and fun approach to a classic sound, at least in my opinion. Go give it a listen if you want to immerse yourself in the 80s nostalgia for an hour.

♫ Solarpunk soundtracks: