Christchurch-based artist POLO has been hard at work in the studio, with the release of a brand new album titled "Beauty School Dropout". We took 5 with him to get behind his passion for music.
So we've have had the album on repeat since its release. How would you describe the album?
I'm not very good at describing the things I create. On a base level, I would say it's a sort of diary - an expression of the things I've experienced in life.
The meaning is a personal thing and I wouldn't want to talk about it too much because how I see the album and how someone else does will be very different and I wouldn't want to ruin the magic of that.
Can you tell us who or what influenced you in your album?
All the experiences ideas and art that I absorbed while I was making it. I'm always looking for things that are challenging and different so I think that has influenced my approach.
What is next on the horizon for you?
I'm working on alot of new music with my collective TITAN and an EP called "Saints Out For Summer" will be dropping sometime before the end of the year - im also working on a few films that you might see sometime somewhere.
What is your take on the local music scene at the moment, in Christchurch and New Zealand?
I think there's some real talent here and most of it hasn't really been discovered yet. I have friends that make a lot of amazing music but never post anything, that being said RAKA is my favourite rapper right now and he's definitely on the come up.
One thing I dislike about the scene is that I think there's a huge 'escape NZ' mentality because there's not as much opportunity - and I think that's going to force people to head overseas instead of working on building things here - I don't want to see homies taste the Hollywood limelight and ditch. Egos are fragile and the grass is not always greener.
Listen to Beauty School Dropout below: