Policia band live biography

The band is formed of Ryan Olson on production and singer Channy Leaneagh. Leaneagh spawned from a musical family and attended Ramsey Fine Arts School where she learned to dance, play the violin and perform. After graduating from high school Leaneagh met Alexei Casselle who became an acoustic duo and in 2005 married. The pair formed folk-rock duo Roma di Luna and released three independent albums together.

After the professional break up of Roma di Luna and personal break-up of her marriage, Leaneagh was looking for something novel and Ryan Olsen invited her to join his Ganyngs supergroup project alongside Justin Vernon, P.O.S., Har Mar Superstar and members of Megafaun. After which Olsen convinced the singer to experiment with a synth pop, R&B sound and enlisted the help of Chris Bierden on bass and back-up vocals, and Drew Christopherson and Ben Ivascu on drums.

Poliça released their debut album in February 2012 on the label Totally Gross National Product founded by Drew Christopherson and Ryan Olsen. The album features strong manipulation of the singers voice and received positive critical acclaim. The band subsequently played SXSW festival and became known for their intense live-performances across the U.S. and Europe with their funky bass and powerful pair of drummers.

The band followed their debut up with “Shulamith” in 2013, named after the feminist Shulamith Firestone. The album reached No. 33 in the UK Albums charts and its lead single “Tiff” features the experienced voice of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.

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about

Minneapolis continues its golden run of producing quality talent with the first project to arrive out the Gayngs collective, the super slick electronic pop-soul outfit POLIÇA. Fronted by ice cool vocalist Channy Leanagh who sang with Gayngs, produced by Ryan Olson and featuring Mike Noyce from Bon Iver, it’s a who’s who of the current Twin Cities scene. Continuing the tradition of having friends in high places with Prince and Kanye West among Gayngs fans, POLIÇA have already been backed by none other than Jay Z who posted their video for the new for single ‘Lay Your Cards Out’ on his Life + Times blog: lifeandtimes.com/lifetimes-video-premier-polica-lay-your-cards-out

After collaborating in the studio and live with Gayngs in 2010, it became apparent that Channy and Ryan should form a group of their own. “As touring progressed and Channy got more comfortable with the band and singing the songs, she would reinvent the parts she was doing in brilliant ways. It made me want to see where else she could go” explains Olson. Ryan’s pop sensibilities and electronic adventurism would prove to be the perfect vehicle for Channy’s recent growth and evolution as a vocalist and dynamic experimentalist. In June 2011, they began writing together what would become POLIÇA’s debut album, Give You The Ghost.

The result

Austin—Another weekend of ACL brings another weekend of Late Night sets. This time I wound up on 6 Street west of I-35 to see Poliça, the Minneapolis electronic group that has been releasing music for two years, starting with 2012’s Give You the Ghost and following that up with last year’s Shulamith. Their music is watermarked by weighty, lush, catharsis-eluding songs, and an autobiographical bent that makes me think Trent Reznor. Liberal artists may recognize the homage to second-wave feminist writer Shulamith Firestone, which I would unpack if this were an English class.

The short version is that it’s pretty grim, complex, and, if you read interviews with lead singer Channy Leanagh, deeply personal. It’s music that may not be doing justice to itself live, where lyrics are half-heard through crowd noise and Lone Star. This isn’t an academic question; when the songs’ voices come through, carried by anti-cathartic sound and stage presence, they shape this live experience into something spooky, mournful, and energetic—a release of tremendous emotional pressure. Poliça’s music deserves listening-time through good speakers, but if you’re into something darker, then you should be looking at their tour calendar.

“Chain My Name” is a signature track from Shulamith, and a place where the personal hurt of the lyricist is tough to miss. “So are we just made to fight all our lives?” and complementary “Chain my name” carry the message of a broken marriage pretty clearly, helped by a pounding backbeat, clapping accents, and tinkling arpeggio that carries a great hook. It’s a bit of a strange tension between the music and the meaning, but in the best tradition of Joy Division and “Why Can’t I Be You”-style Robert Smith.

In terms of rhythm and pace, the songs don’t necessarily stay close to “Chain My Name.” “Dark Star,” a dedication to the singer’s child, sticks sort of close to the formula, though with more distant melodies and an almost-unmixed positivity

American synth-pop band

For other uses, see Polica.

Poliça (often stylised in all caps) is an American pop band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 2011. The band consists of Channy Leaneagh (vocals, synth), Chris Bierden (bass), Drew Christopherson (drums) and Ben Ivascu (drums), with Ryan Olson joining the band in a studio context as its producer.

To date, the band has released six studio albums, Give You the Ghost (2012), Shulamith (2013), and United Crushers (2016) through Mom + Pop Music; Music For the Long Emergency (2018) through Transgressive; When We Stay Alive (2020) and Madness (2022) through Memphis Industries. They also tour internationally.

Naming

According to Channy Leaneagh, Poliça is Polish for "policy", and she sees it as a reference to an unwritten code that guides the members when they play together, as well as its work ethic.

The Polish word is spelled polisa (from Italian polizza) and literally means an insurance agreement or insurance certificate. However, it may colloquially refer to an unofficial back up or contingency plan which could include an unwritten agreement and code of conduct.

In another interview, Leaneagh claimed that they wanted something unique, and she had a file on her computer which, following a corruption during a computer crash, had come back as "Poliça".

History

Origins

From a musical family, Leaneagh attended the Ramsey Fine Arts school, where she learned to dance, play violin and participated in theater. She graduated from Minneapolis South High School where she met Alexei Casselle and formed an acoustic folk-rock duo, Roma di Luna. Casselle, who was primarily a hip-hop performer in the groups Oddjobs and Kill the Vultures, sent Leaneagh tapes of his acoustic songs while she was in Cambodia teaching art for a year. In June 2005, Leaneagh and Casselle were married. Roma di Luna relea