My Old Man by I Am the Polish Army

2017 | Rock

From the privacy of a dorm room in 2005 to the streets of Brooklyn in 2016, I Am The Polish Army has come a long way since singer-guitarist Emma DeCorsey first considered the strength of her voice and the purpose behind the music floating around in her head. Between those early days trying to understand what I Am The Polish Army could be and the recent months in which the band finished their forthcoming album, DeCorsey had her heart crushed by several fellow musicians, her home studio equipment was stolen, she scraped her original thoughts for her first full-length and subsequently rewrote the bulk of the material. She also befriended two musicians (bassist Turner Stough and drummer Eric Kuby) who would forever alter the trajectory of her life.

Within three months of their first rehearsal, the trio was in the studio with acclaimed engineer Charles Burst (Neko Case, Psychic Ills, Crystal Stilts) and were working through the songs which would eventually form the basis of the band’s debut record, “My Old Man.” Driven by a desire to reinvent the initial musical offerings that DeCorsey had created, they broke down each track to its base elements and reshaped them in the image of bands like DeCorsey's teenage heroes Veruca Salt and The Breeders. Growling with guitar solos that are the work of longtime session musician and friend Dave Van Epp, as well as DeCorsey herself, these tracks developed a colossal emotional presence, resulting in the kind of redemptive catharsis that only occurs after some truly harrowing and life-shaking experiences.

I Am The Polish Army’s debut record, “My Old Man” is, in many ways, the realization of an idea that began over ten years ago, when DeCorsey was first exploring and experiencing the inspirations and traumatic events that would shape her transient perspectives on the how the world saw her as both a musician and a woman. Drawing inspiration from a near-accident and East Village ennui for opening track, “You Don’t Know,” she and the band quickly set out to reveal a withered landscape of burned out automobile husks and forgotten homes that were lost to the march of progress and trust fund money. “David Bowie” offers a glimpse into the voids that develop when musicians are unceremoniously taken from us and how loose-limbed posers often spring up to capitalize on the sound and history those lamented artists presented.

I Am the Polish Army (Artist/Musician)