"Polish Girl" is a song recorded by the American band

Neon Indian Neon Indian is an American electronic music band from Denton, Texas. The music is composed by Mexican-born Alan Palomo (born July 24, 1988), who is also part of the band Ghosthustler and releases solo music under his birth name and the stage nam ...

. It was released on August 3, 2011, as the second single from their second studio album, ''

Era Extraña ''Era Extraña'' is the second studio album by American electronic music band Neon Indian. It was released on September 7, 2011, by Static Tongues and Mom + Pop Music. The recording took place between the winter of 2010 and 2011 during frontman ...

'' (2011). A music video, directed by Tim Nackashi and produced in collaboration with The Creators Project, was released on September 13. It was included in the PC,

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

rereleases of ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

'' in 2014 and 2015 as part of the radio station Radio Mirror Park.

Composition

'' was recorded from the winter of 2010 to 2011 at Kalevankatu 45 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland, when Palomo lived there for four weeks. "Polish Girl" was defined as

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

and

dance pop Dance-pop is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developi ...

. Larry Fitzmaurice of ''Pitchfork'' found "Polish Girl" to be similar to the song " Reunion" (2004) by Canadian band

Stars A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of ...

, seeing a resemblance to its theme of someone trying to recover, and yearning for, young love. Palomo asks questions in the song that are likely to be unanswered, such as "Do I still cross your mind?/ Your face still distorts the time". '' Drowned in Sound'' reviewer Robert Cooke noted the "dazzling syncopated pulse" to be similar to the coin sound effect in games from the

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

series, while observing melodies that "splash and slide around sickly-sweet flurries of arpeggios and a family-friendly feel-good beat". Parry Ernsberger of ''

Blurt Blurt is an English post-punk band, founded in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Background Blurt was founded in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire by poet, saxophonist and puppeteer Ted Milton along with Milton's brother Jake, formerly of ...

'' said that the song includes what sounds like samples from the game ''

Super Mario World ''Super Mario World'', known in Japan as '' is a 1990 platform game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The player controls Mario on his quest to save Princess Peach and Dino ...

'' (1991), and has the "euphoric energy" of

Cut Copy Cut Copy (sometimes stylised as Cut/Copy) are an Australian synth-pop band formed in 2001 by Dan Whitford (vocals, keyboards and guitar). Originally a home-recording project, the band now includes Tim Hoey (guitars), Ben Browning (bass guitar), ...

's album ''

Zonoscope ''Zonoscope'' is the third studio album by Australian electronic music band Cut Copy, released on 4 February 2011 by Modular Recordings. Recorded in Melbourne in 2010, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics. ''Zonoscope ...

'' (2011). ''

Beats Per Minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

'' writer Aurora Mitchell said the song "sounds like 80s disco distorted through an old computer", while Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

noted the song sounds more like Palomo's other project Vega than Neon Indian.

Reception

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' gave "Polish Girl" their "Best New Track" accolade at the time of its release. They named it the 69th best song of 2011, while '' Consequence'' named it the year's 18th best, with Frank Mojica writing: "With 'Polish Girl', Neon Indian has traded their signature

chillwave Chillwave (originally considered synonymous with glo-fi and hypnagogic pop) is a music microgenre that emerged in the late 2000s. It is characterized by evoking the popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s while engaging with notions of ...

stylings in favor of a dreamy spin on

and set the new standard for retro chic".

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Era Extraña''. * Alan Palomo – production, arrangements, performer *

Dave Fridmann David Lawrence Fridmann is an American record producer and musician. Career From 1990 onwards he co-produced most releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips. Other bands he has worked with include Weezer, Saxon Shore (band), Saxon Shore, Neon ...

– additional production, mixing * Claudius Mittendorfer – mixing

Charts

References

{{Neon Indian 2011 songs 2011 singles Neon Indian songs Mom + Pop Music singles Electropop songs Grand Theft Auto music Song recordings produced by Dave Fridmann