Last summer, Ryan Olson and Channy Casselle – whose previous collaboration, Gayngs' 2010 LP Relayted, was a mesmerizing slab of cheesed-out neo-soul that featured Bon Iver – wrote Give You The Ghost in only a month's time. Quickly, a band was assembled and sent into the studio, fully fleshing out the forlorn, ruminative R&B experiment, and Give You the Ghost was born. The songs are of a piece with Olson and Casselle's previous work, yet slower, more tender – less sharp tongue and more soft cheek. Casselle's focused, tender voice cascades over dense fields of minor-key electronics, backed by with funked-up bass and a swarm of percussion. It’s sound of heartbreak and celebration happening simultaneously.

Listen To Poliça's "Dark Star":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.