Bands with a giant roster featuring nameless members playing violin or French horn or the singing saw have dominated the psychedelic folk scene as of late. Arcade Fire brought it a level of widespread popularity and electronic elements which spawned Animal Collective's newest album makes the possibility of the black figures of Mac commercials dancing to funky freak-folk beats conceivable. Even had bought into this after rather douche-y conversation with a friend at lunch over how the typical rock band setup (guitar, bass, drums, vocals) was dead as almost everything that could be done with this setup has already been done.
I hadn't yet listened to this Parc Avenue. Plants and Animals take the rock band setup and shove it in your face with a wide array of styles throughout the album. With more experience in creating rich guitar instrumentals, Plants and Animals have very matured sound that outpaces their lyrical content. Their early work focused completely on their guitar work and originally seemed to fringe on becoming a instrumental psychedelic group. But this album in particular shows the group's insistence in creating a more dynamic sound. Although there are instances throughout the album that reveal the inexperience working with a vocal aspect of their sound, their experience manipulating the sound of their guitar work gives them a unique sound on every track and results in a rich assortment throughout.
The vocals of guitar-vocalists Warren Spicer and Nick Basque have a broad range as they both bring out catchy gang vocals and fit in smoothly along their unique guitar riffs. As a Midwestern appreciator of Neil Young's vocals, even above those of his counterpart Bob Dylan, I find it easy to appreciate the folk-style vocals of this group. But Plants and Animals still produce a unique, mellow style to their vocals and admirably avoid recreating vocals of better-known folk groups.
Plants and Animals with Parc Avenue have made a totally new sound using their own unique experience and utilizing elements of the genre to which they adhere. Their blend of psychedelic, droning guitars with a lyrical and vocal style reminiscent of another Canadian accepted by the American South give hope to a folk movement that has nearly exhausted its resources of quirky instruments to turn to when seeking originality.
Plants and Animals are touring Europe currently and will be in the US for Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago
Posts
Nice review. ill check them out soon. in the meantime, you should listen to woods' new album songs of shame, and write a review of that. also, are you referring to neil young as that canadian accepted by the american south?
ReplyDeleteI will look at Songs of Shame. And yeah I was referring to my man, Neil Young. If you listen to this and you like it, and Neil Young, you should listen to Blitzen Trapper. They will also be at Pitchfork.
ReplyDelete