Caroline Polachek: Tiny Desk Concert

Marissa Lorusso | October 10, 2023 Any good singer who gives half a thought to the health of her instrument knows that hydration is crucial for functioning vocal cords. But when Caroline Polachek — whose left-of-center pop music makes great use of her mellifluous voice — stops for a water break in the middle of her Tiny Desk concert, she doesn’t pull out some crappy plastic bottle. No, she drinks from a chalice. That seems like precisely the right vibe for a performance by Polachek. Her songs are filled with vivid, extravagant imagery — headless angels, smoke floating over volcanoes, fiery sunsets, mayflies in the swimming pool — and in their production you can hear everything from a children’s choir to bagpipes to glitchy beats. At the Tiny Desk, she maintains that adventurous spirit but works with a live band to give her songs a more homespun feel. Together, they perform four tracks from Polachek’s arresting, maximalist album Desire, I Want To Turn Into You: the propulsive “Pretty