Oh hello, we are Polaris—a five simple human being who happen to have artistic views about life.
We started as a grunge band called “ShootGoat” early in high school 1999 until the year of 2002 before disbanded, and changed the name to POLARIS in a very 1st appearance of December 2003.
Why we choose instrumental music? Glad that you asked. We try to find a sound that seem like they could have been plucked from our dreamy fantasy imagination. Equal parts fantastical/fairy/beautiful/emotional sounds. It started with just Sharul on the guitar. Then, we moved on to Arif on drums working together with Azmir on the bass. Later came Yanti playing the keyboard. And last but not least Saiful on the other guitar.
After drifting around and dabbling in different musical genres throughout our teen years, we finally landed on the so-called "instrumental and experimental” planet that we live on now. We unleashed a little taster of our work in the middle of 2008 as our personal collections but the songs kept coming.
We couldn't stop them. And the more we made, the easier it became to convey how we felt through simple melody with sounds harvested from the far reaches of our alternate universe.
Finally we sat back and listened to everything we had feverishly created over the past years, and we were happy. We realized that we had discovered more about ourselves when we were just listening and creating music than from anything else. And for every minute of song that passed through our head were reminded of that realization, and it felt special. So we called this first full EP collection of our music, "27th Heaven' or in a different translation "Daerah Bintang Mampat Pelangi".
Hopefully our music will find a place that always stays in your heart.
It has 3 songs + 2 hidden Tracks.Selling at Rm10.00.
REVIEWS
1st Review: Polaris First EP- 27th Heaven
The EP is named Twenty Seventh Heaven or Daerah Bintang Mampat Pelangi. The latter is actually a location in Indonesia. Not necessarily what you call a translation, but whatever that is written on the cover is bilingual. You may think it’s irrelevant, but you’ll somehow get the drift.
Polaris decides to deliver a fairytale rock glory. To begin with, the title of the songs will leave our imagination to wither. Its even more untamed when there are no lyrics involved.
They attempt geologically huge sounding harmony that seems to fool you to wait for an interval, before they kick off to tricky half measures. A humble E.P used as a medium to heave their creativity and test their fanbase, Polaris is brave.
It might or might not work for your eardrums, but there’s no harm in giving them a try. A band like this should be seen live. I recently got a prescription from my doctor, telling me that I have hearing problems and I’m not supposed to go for gigs anymore. Obviously the doctor doesn’t know that I haven’t seen Polaris performed. Because if he does, he’d agree that it might just be the remedy to my hearing problem.
We live in a world where volatile music like this is considered as “unfriendly” to radio listeners. Let’s just say that things have to change from now on.
Najihah Sani
Dj of Traxx Fm
2nd Review: Polaris First EP- 27th Heaven
Being unfamiliar with indie music at first, Polaris style of music sets a reasonably outstanding fulfillment for me. In a sense, their music seems like they have spent meticulous time on each song; for every song. And to my unfamiliar senses, that is impressive. Through their music, I find myself digging for more indie music that really does justice to the whole concept of home-grown, underground melody.
27th Heaven further led my music interest to a deeper yet comprehensible line of tunes. My personal favorite is Track 3 and I’ve got amazingly good remarks from a few other listeners as well. It is not too much to say that Track 3 is the best that I’ve heard so far. The idea of having multiple sounds, in which each sounds resemble the originality of the musician, intrigued me to keep listening and understanding the message that the piece of music is trying to deliver.
I really appreciate the effort of balancing the sounds of each instrument in order to give a fair shot to the listeners. I used to view so-called ‘loud’ songs as frantically distressing because they end up voluming all instruments at once, ending up torturing the listeners from really indulging into good music. All in, Polaris first EP has made me craving for more Polaris, and I just can’t wait.
Azlyn Zawawi
Academic Member of The Faculty of Administrative Science and Policy Studies
Universiti Teknologi Mara
Kedah, Malaysia
3rd Review: Polaris First EP- 27th Heaven
Polaris with their equally flashy title and tracks names somehow caught my attention around April This year.
The keyboardist cum Manager met me and passed their EP around end April Itself. So This EP review is due. Very much Due. I sincerely apologies to the band members in sitting on this review.
Let’s talk about POLARIS and their First EP effort aptly titled "Twenty Seventh Heaven". Without being told what to expect and what kind of genre music Polaris brings. I without actually, having any expectation started to listen to it in my car.And trust me, it’s been my stable daily diet ever since. Polaris somehow managed to grow in me musically. Apart from offering a fresh new sound to my ears, they are actually very good in their trade. The only bummer is the recording and mixing quality could be better.
Personally I have seen them perform in person and they really rock the house down. Its saddening that the real sound of Polaris is not actually translated at the recording and mixing of the EP. But it’s still manage to gives solid quality to ears. I just wish the process of recording done elsewhere or using some other professional.
With the scene now flooded with the same repetitive songs which sound alike, Polaris effort is refreshingly different.
The production on this EP is more than satisfactory. The drums pound, the guitars rip, and the bass thunders. The keyboard Interludes. All somehow harmonized into one mean rocking musical Journey! As far as stylistic sound, this is a bit of an odd turn for a Malaysian band. The progression of the materials is so rich; a normal band could have come out with a 20 songs album with it. Each songs has its own story to tell and if you really give it a listen, I am freaking sure you will get what they trying to tell with their songs.
Impression: Perhaps the best part of this EP is the cover. It features the members of the band named as their alter-ego. The Cover and the CD printing are done professionally. I personally enjoyed this deviation from the usual monotonous CD Covers. This is a solid EP and would recommend buying it if you can get your hands on it.
POLARIS is Freaking Good (awesome) and I Give Them Two Blazing Thumbs Up!! My Personal Favorite Track is Track No: 01. Give them a listen and be Polarised!!!
Mika
Micro Music
4th Review: Polaris First EP- 27th Heaven
Twenty Seventh Heaven." is the sound of RAWKmusik being deconstructed and reassembled in a new form which while being a billion miles away from your usual bland,sanitised,korporatized, INDIezed version of RAWK still managed to kick my wimpy punkRAWK ass in a way that only a proper RAWK record could do.
Visit this record for your dose of out there cosmic riffs, be seduced and lulled into submission by the pretty, near-classical keyboard lines and then be subdued by the pounding rhythm section which is as tight as any PVC leather pants on the market
All the while being taken on a ride through amazing tempo and rhythmic changes which would fail in the hand of a lesser band.but Polaris is not any other band and in their capable hands you can be assured of an fantasphsychelic musical experience.get the record, immerse yourself in it and consider your asses kicked.
Nazmi
Orange Free State
5th Review: Polaris First EP- 27th Heaven
In an interview, the Polaris deconstructed the mystique behind their insanely long song titles, eg. 'Her Guilty Pleasure's Song Is Playing On The Radiogram (Kekeliruan Yang Besar Dalam Memahami Maksud 'Komitmen' Sebelum Dan Selepas Mendirikan Rumahtangga)'.
Fitting, since the tracks on this EP are charming because of their very earnestness, throwing everything into no-vox, post-rock template and refusing to get anal about genre adherence.
More review in Frontlines section September issue or go to http://www.junkonline.net/articles/2287-Polaris-is-made-of-starstuff
Jason
Junk Magazine
