Antarctica Takes It!, from Santa Cruz, California, is a fairly easy group to figure out — a true indie pop project, they put their sound up for examination with their first — and self-released — album, The Penguin League.
Delightfully lo-fi, Antarctica Takes It! shows a real heartfelt pop sensibility that’s often lost. Seperating such wheat as this from its musical chaff can often prove a real chore, but one of not only high importance, but also highly rewarding. Though The Penguin League is a bit unrefined and certainly not of the highest fidelity, it’s quality music, no doubt about it.
The delicate pop melodies of The Penguin League are expounded upon with some various bits of unique instrumentation; with glockenspiels, accordions, violins, ukeleles, and trumpets, Antarctica Takes It! demonstrates not only a strong grasp of the subtleties of pop music, but also their skill in musicianship, which seems to act as a strong base for the band. The Penguin League is no pop masterpiece, but as the band’s first release, it bodes well for the future.
Matthew Montgomery