A pang is often described as a sharp, fleeting feeling — it can be a pang of grief at the thought of losing something, a pang of regret thinking of something you wish you could have done differently or a pang of sadness when reminiscing.
This feeling is defined throughout Caroline Polachek’s 2019 debut album, “Pang,” evident in the yearning sting of the skittering beats, the sadness in orchestral flourishes and the joy in the sparkling, bell-like tones.
“Pang” was inspired when Polachek was repeatedly awoken from her sleep by a rush of adrenaline for months while writing the album, a feeling she described as an internal emotional prick.
“And as I was lying there, I was thinking about how ‘panging,’ that kind of intense, urgent kind of internal hunger, was actually kind of a quality that I’ve always looked for in music and that connected all my favorite music that I’ve loved since being a child,” Polachek said in an interview with Pop Crush.
Polachek’s music career started long before the release of her sweeping experimental solo debut album. She was a co-founder of the synth-pop duo Chairlift, which was active from 2005-2017, and released music under the names Ramona Lisa and CEP.
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Polachek released “Pang” under her real name in 2019, a soaring 14-track project that encapsulates feelings of lost love, nostalgia and the struggle for identity within dazzling bursts of synths and pulsing basslines.
“Pang” is audibly synthetic and unconventional in its beauty, with an experimental production of dreamy textures warped around Polachek’s heavily automated voice.
Despite the deeply manufactured sound, the lyrics are authentically crafted, with swelling lyrical arrangements overflowing with twinges of emotion.
A shattered drum pattern is the framework of “I Give Up,” a song seeping in melancholic ecstasy and artificial sorrow.
Feelings of desolation are woven within the delicate pluck of a harp-like synth sound and Polachek’s breathy vocals that intertwine with the swooning ambiance.
The song acts as a wave crashing into the shoreline, the hypnotic quality of Polachek’s voice intensifying before exploding on impact in a sonically beautiful display of metallic shards.
“Insomnia” is enveloped by otherworldly instrumentation — glassy synths, a brooding bass undercurrent and haunting vocals.
“To save a single living piece of us/ I still got it/ I still got your heat,” Polachek sings, her voice distorting under the glassy production.
The song explores themes of restlessness and aching for something you’re not quite sure is even out there, as the subdued vocal harmonies are scattered throughout the song, creating an eerie, dreamlike soundscape.
Polachek sits alongside electro-pop greats, but while her counterparts like Charli xcx and Arca have more upbeat soundscapes, Polachek wades into more somber sounds, not afraid to bask in their depth and complexity.
“Hey Big Eyes” delights in a playful atmosphere, with stretches of synthetic vocal lilts and crisp electronic circuits.
“Hey, big eyes, can you swim/ Swim down to me?” Polachek sings, her voice swirling around the celestial synths, creating a dreamlike aura.
Despite “Hey Big Eyes” being one of the fluffier and light-hearted sounding tracks, the lyrics give way to complex underlying feelings of instability as Polachek grapples with trying to tether herself to reality.
A catchy melodic hook leads the song, disarming the listener before launching into an unexpected rhythm shift, contributing to a vibrant, sonic atmosphere.
The album envelops you in an exhilarating trance, building slowly and skillfully before reaching a climax marked by a burst of distorted bass and ambient textures, ultimately leaving you awash in its euphoria.
As intimate as “Pang” might be, the full depth of the album is concealed by an artificial filter of sounds. Some of the album’s meaning gets wrapped up in Polachek’s manipulated vocal tones and contorted production, and it can be hard to decipher what feelings are real or fabricated.
Maybe Polachek wants you to wonder if she’s an electro-pop-producing machine or a woman who yearns for something more. Maybe she wants to prove that she can be both.
