Brand new single ‘Cuckoo’ is the sound of Polar Bear twisted into strange dark electronic pop shapes. Recorded with rising star Jin Jin, it’s a companion piece to this year’s Mercury Prize shortlisted album In Each And Every One.

“I started to make ‘Cuckoo’ out of a section that I wrote for ‘Chotpot’ but didn’t use on the album,” PB’s Sebastian Rochford explains. Seb sampled Jin Jin’s vocals on In Each And Every One after she’d recorded in his studio late last year. Pleased with the results, he invited her back to collaborate on ‘Cuckoo’.

Sharing the album’s earthy experimentalism, ‘Cuckoo’ moves it several steps towards the dancefloor. That transition is fully realised on the propulsive Paleman remix, built on anxious rhythms and ominous nocturnal atmospheres. The single is further evidence of Seb’s eclectic tastes and the hunger to challenge himself. In this space between albums he’s free to explore, and the work he undertakes with others feeds into Polar Bear’s music, a vital ingredient to a truly progressive, ever evolving band.

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