“The four-piece combine surreal lyrics with genuinely unpredictable garage rock… it’s the victorious sound of a band still having fun.” The Guardian – 4 stars ****
“There are still instances of thrilling freneticism, but this LP is often more cleanly directional, as with the sweet vocal / guitar chimes on ‘Bell’. The title track is weightlessly delightful, with Ragnhild Fangel’s vocals alternately cute and melancholy – with echoes of Emiliana Torrini, Stina Nordenstam and Bjork.” MOJO – 4 stars ****
“A terrific album of hooky, off-kilter indie rock, Champion keeps you delightfully on your toes throughout.” BrooklynVegan
“A power-pop tour de force, energetic and imaginative… Champion expands their sonic palette with some of their most anthemic and gorgeous songs to date.” Narc – 4.5 / 5
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.
Champion is Pom Poko’s third LP, after their blistering debut Birthday in 2019, and 2021’s critically acclaimed Cheater. Both albums served to cement the band’s sound: Ragnhild’s high-pitched yet crystal clear voice punctuating the rest of the band’s ferocious onslaught of noise, which fluctuates from post-punk to math-rock and everything in between.
“We trust each other more, now that we’ve written a lot of songs together and know each other so well,” says Ragnhild. “For me, at least, you see things clearer when you have a bit more space. When you start a band in your early twenties, everything is being thrown in your face, you can’t really see what’s going on, and you just keep running. At the end of the day, these songs are about us, and the value of our friendship.”