Swedish band POLAR BEAR & KING is a venture that was started in 2014, and consists of members Adam and Nicklas. They have released three singles so far. “Rosehip” is the second of these, and dates back all the way to the start of 2015.
This single has been stuck in my promo queue for quite some time, for a number of different reasons, the amount of promos I receive among them. It was nice to get reacquainted with this song though, as it does document the qualities of a band with potential, although a bit unrealized at the point of this specific single in my opinion.
The song opens up as a dreamladen, careful ballad, with ethereal keyboard textures and wandering acoustic guitars supporting the lead vocals, with a piano motif growing in as it develops. Just over midways the song shifts to a more intense indie pop style crescendo, and then ebbs out on a gentle note again.
Personally I found this song to be most intriguing while staying in the gentler landscapes, a melancholic affair with something of a summer spirit to it, the perfect kind of song to play in wintewr while dreaming about the spring and summer soon to come. The more dramatic indie pop crescendo disrupts that feeling ever so slightly.
The vocals is another subtly detrimental aspect here, as the deeper vocals used in the verse sequences are a bit too uncontrolled and and carry a bit too much accent to truly carry the song as I experienced them. The lighter toned angelic style vocals used as backing vocals in various places throughout the song and that takes over the lead for the chorus section are rather more intriguing, but then because they are limited to those sections.
A few highs and a few lows pans out as a nice and pleasant song overall in this version, and I do feel that there’s an unrealized potential in this song as well. A truly strong vocalist could do wonders with the emotional impact of the song, and if the harder edged indie pop sequence was toned down ever so slightly that would, in my opinion at least, also add rather than detract to the song. A lessened dramatic impact, true, but a stronger and more subtle emotional one.
If melancholic, dreamladen pop music is to your general liking, you should consider tracking down this one and give it a listen. Especially if you find yourself tiring of the autumn and winter season that have just started, and long for spring and summer to come sooner rather than later.
My rating: 60/100
