Polar Bear

Tom Herbert (London, UK)
Leafcutter John (London, UK)
Mark Lockheart (London, UK)
Sebastian Rochford (London, UK)
Pete Wareham (Hastings, UK)

Polar Bear have marked themselves out as one of the most exciting and progressive bands of their generation. Since receiving a Mercury Music Prize nomination for their second album Held On The Tips Of Fingers, the band, led by drummer Sebastian Rochford, has continued to innovate and transcend genre, connecting with jazz, rock, hip-hop, electronic and mainstream audiences alike.

Released in the spring of 2014, In Each And Every One is Polar Bear’s fifth album - their first since 2010’s widely acclaimed Peepers. It’s certainly their boldest and most dynamic work to date. A remarkable song cycle, it offers an expansive arc across deep emotional terrain, it evokes a range of atmospheres: post-industrial scrub, grimy metropolitan house parties, snowy wastelands, dark mountain gatherings.

Rochford has worked with a bewildering array of iconic musicians in recent years, including Paul McCartney, Brian Eno, Beck, Rokia Traoré, Yoko Ono, Matana Roberts, Jehst, Shabaka Hutchings and Damon Albarn’s Africa Express project. Twin saxophonists Pete Wareham (Melt Yourself Down, Acoustic Ladyland) and Mark Lockheart (Django Bates) together possess a broad emotional vocabulary, while bassist Tom Herbert (The Invisible) is irresistible when he plays inside the groove. These disparate musical elements are driven and moulded by the deft touch of electronics wizard Leafcutter John.

Polar Bear have already begun work their sixth album, to be released in 2015, once again raising the bar for this uniquely talented group of musicians.