Pollyanna - Sugar Coat deluxe EP review

Sugar Coat by New Jersey’s Pollyanna is an EP that was actually released last year but I missed until about the summer of this year. That EP stuck with me hard. I just could not put it down and I really wanted to write something about it and I did but I’ll be the first to admit that the format I came up with to talk about it was pretty bad by design and I almost feel it was embarrassing to put out. That’s why when the band announced signing to I Surrender records, a tour, an upcoming record and the deluxe reissue of this EP with a vinyl release I was very excited. Both as a fan that a band I admire so much was doing exciting things for themselves and in running this blog so I could talk about it in a better format.   

In the midst of all those announcements came a new single, “Monster,” which finds its way on this “new” release. It starts out acoustic and taps into full band with a nice part-drumroll part-time bomb sound. Also loving the lines and how they compliment the base narrative for example;

“I know you make me say things that I don’t mean, I’m so mean.”

Is in part the exact clever turn of scenario phrasing that drew me to more listens in the first place. The dynamic between lead and backing vocals on this track hits so hard as well.

The actual EP kicks off with “Don’t Stay, Don’t Go,” a relatively simple but infectious opener. There are of course nice little instrumental hook-ins, the opening drum fill, the bass groove after the first chorus and other tiny moments throughout the track. It serves as a great introduction, I might add, to the overall themes of the EP. Lines like;

“After all of it I’m empty but you taste so sweet. After all of it I’m empty but I need something sweet.”

Will be spliced all around toward this narrative of a link with someone you know isn’t going well, but you want to work anyway. There is also a cigar lounge version of this track that opens the deluxe side of the record. It takes the track and makes it more spaced out instrumentally and turns all of its enunciations of lyrics into stiffer versions of themselves for example; little things like saying “want to” instead of “wanna” adds to the air of a more refined sound that they’re going for. There’s also some very compelling instrumentation used in the second verse that I think adds to that as well. While, of all the bonus tracks this does the least for me, I think it’s a cool successful thought experiment that comes across more interesting than a basic acoustic version.

“I Promise, I’m Lying” is like some sort of beautiful fusion of pop punk and beach rock with its bouncy riffs, sweet backing vocals and percussion style. This is catchy-Pollyanna at its peak it was hard to stop singing along to the angry but fun chorus just to take notes for this write up though at the post-choruses it sounds like trying to get the words with precision should suck the air out of your lungs. There is a long pause or fake-out ending before the final chorus, which as a songwriting tool in general I am such a sucker for. There is also a hyperpop edition of this song that closes the bonus tracks out. It hits all the buttons and keeps the sonically-fun yet lyrically-angry themes of the track. Also makes for a nice tossup with the other bonuses being all acoustic or acoustic-adjacent.

“IDKY” is a ballad track with a lot of interesting bass and vocal work. The bass I want to point especially as it serves as a grand backbone for the dramatic delivery. There is a vocal feature here from Ophelia Booth where the feature gives a low-delivered verse backed by the same lyrics and melody just at a much higher octave which makes for a beautiful contrast. The track builds quite nicely too being a full blown rock song by the interlude of the cut. On the deluxe bonuses there is a bedroom pop rendition of this track that, true to concept, has a softer chord progression, more intimate vocal harmonies. For lack of any real descriptors I think overall I like this song in this setting more though that isn’t at all to slight the original as I think it has its own charms that can’t quite be re-lived in this version.

I’m going to get this out there right now; I think “Good for You” is this band's best song by a mile. It's the narrative going from angry to sad to regret in a stage of guilt sort of telling and goes nicely with the storytelling especially in the “heavier” of the tracks found on here. You start to see here that maybe the narrator is the toxic one in this given situation, even resigning by turning the song title on herself toward the end. It's also how in sync this band is on this one. Not a note is out of place and compliments every other aspect going on at a given time. Every chanting of "don't go now" is built in a different, more exciting way. The instrumental break is so well delivered. Hell, that whole section is a ride, from the "I won't be what you want" bit to the interlude to an acoustic rendition of that chorus with the sound of a party behind it. That's what the whole song is about, being bitter that fun is being had without you. The whole track and where it takes the EP’s concepts are next level.

Grown apart is another ballad that might be less dynamic than “IDKY” but it has a very interesting percussion style throughout. There's more of the in sync demonstrations for example the bass groove after the tracks chorus. The lyrics are something I think everyone can relate to in that they're about you detaching from someone toxic that you've known since childhood but releasing this behavior isn't necessarily new, and I think that the spoken word passage demonstrating that is really impactful.

“Never Know” is a striped back acoustic ballad that closes out the base EP’s concept, it even opens with;

“So this is how it ends.”

It is a great vocal demonstration and while I wish it had more of a build up it does have some cool electric slides and it gets its desired mood across.

What I like most about “Friend,” the second new song on the deluxe side, is that while it’s another acoustic tear jerker (the line “you make me so sad” is present and it did get some tears out of me) the track has a bit more thought to it than that and is full of some hope as well. The actual storytelling of the track states that the one singing will be there as a friend for someone even in a romantic endeavor that didn’t quite work out. All that and in its acoustic base it also has some great drum and bass support as well.

By itself, I loved this EP for it’s not so complicated yet fun and spicy songwriting with standout performances but I think as a deluxe edition it's even stronger. Any band can just record some acoustic versions and throw on some b-sides to the tracklisting and re-push it out for more numbers but instead Pollyanna genre shifted half of their EP then recorded tracks that took the sonic and lyrical themes and pushed them to even greater heights. I’ve once again had this on constant rotation and I can’t wait to see what the debut full-length has in store in the coming year.