BIO
A reductionist view of Pool Boys’ music could claim four words: Loud guitars; pretty harmonies. Songwriters Emma Browne and Caroline Jackson weave their varied pedigrees together to form a unique sound in Portland music. Pool Boys thrive in dualities - they live in the space where soft and sensitive gives way to grit and ire. Browne’s melodic guitar hooks and oft-spacey, oft-grungy textures are thoroughly supported by Jackson’s weaving bass lines and all four member’s strong voices. The four piece feels equally at home with intricate art-pop outfits or with DIY punk bands. With additional harmonies, guitar, and drums from Annie Dillon and Monica Metzler, their live performances - always decked in all shades of blue - are a sight to behold.
In the past year, Pool Boys has been named one of Willamette Week's Best New Bands, was featured as the opening track of PDX Pop Now's local compilation, shared stages with Jerry Paper, Tonstartssbandht, and Vinyl Williams, and has been featured on KOIN 6 AM Extra News Show. Pool Boys is currently in production for their first full length album with producer Cam Spies of Night Heron and Radiation City. They will soon perform with Camas High School's choir program as the featured performers as well as release a music video for the song Feathers off of their debut EP, Obviously, Doctor at a headlining show at the Doug Fir.
Obviously, Doctor showcases an excellent cross-section of the diversity among songs that makes this band shine. The meandering guitar lines and unexpected chord structures of Jackson’s “Nothing But Trouble” are reminiscent of The Cure, while the raw emotion, rich harmonies, and atypical time signatures in Browne’s “Cellophane” and “44 Stone Lions,” call to mind The Zombies and The Cranberries. The EP, which was recorded at Flora Recording and Playback, takes the listener on a journey. Producer Justin Chase’s (Pure Bathing Culture) clean touch especially shines on “Feathers,” which takes its place as the emotive ballad on the album, evocative of Portishead, while simultaneously showing off each of the members’ unparalleled voices. Browne’s syrupy whisper softly yearns for deliverance while Dillon, Jackson, and Radakovich play her winged guardians.