Plants and Animals take us to La La Land
At Union Hall last night, Plants and Animals treated the audience to a whole bunch of new tunes from their forthcoming album “La La Land,” a worthy follow up for fans of their critically acclaimed, but perhaps under-appreciated, 2008 debut, Parc Avenue. Opening with the lead single, and album start-off, Tom Cruz (which you can stream, along with the rest of the album ), the band powered through 8 of the 11 new tracks, reaching into their back catalogue just once to pull out Faerie Dance. The tiny basement space was packed with a sold out crowd, and some of the most lush, dynamic guitar-rock I’ve ever heard from a 3 piece. I had my camera in tow to capture some pictures, and a video of one of my favorite new tracks, Undone Melody. Looking back, it seems the in-cam mic was almost as blown out as my ear drums, but hell, if you want to see and hear some new Plants and Animals, this is what I’ve got for ya.
More pictures and just a few more words after the jump…
La La Land translates incredibly well to the stage. Whereas some of Parc Avenue’s intricacies were derived from layers of studio instruments and chorus singers, La La Land is built upon the three players. In most of the new songs, there were just two guitars and a drum chugging along. Lead singer Warren Spicer cried above it all with his trademark dips and lifts on select syllables as he stretched a single word into a phrase, imparting his full emotion in the ominous tones through which his melodies wander. As laid back and relaxing as La La can be, live, the songs are forceful and gripping.
Oh, and did I mentioned that Plants and Animals was just the opening act? At the close of their set, the band was drenched in sweat but posed to kick off another tune when the house music suddenly swelled, and with a few glances and shrugs, it was over. No chance of an encore here. Alas. I wasn’t even going to stay for Ra Ra Riot, but one of their super-fans started chatting me up at the back of the bar and convinced me that they were something special. Before last night, I was underwhelmed by the few tracks I had heard, but I also haven’t given them too many listens. There’s just something about happy rock that makes me a bit dismissive of the act. But they were fun, attractive, young, smiling, and jumping in unison (well, the cello player wasn’t), and the crowd really ate it up. Even I found myself bobbing my head more vigorously than anticipated. So you hear that Ra Ra Riot? You won me over. Their new songs especially (as identified by the aforementioned fan) were rock solid and their forthcoming album has been firmly placed in my “Listen To” column.
Here’s s’more Plants and Animals:
See! They won you over.
Love,
The aforementioned RRR superfan