FLARE. Plantoid

FLARE kicks off with a bunch of noise. At the same time I'm under the impression to have put on an old U.K. record where rock meets jazz. What was it? 1978? When Allan Holdsworth and Bill Bruford were still in the band. Plantoid has obviously listened to this record in someone's dad's record collection.'Parasite' is the name of the song. It is quite the opener for FLARE. Many people will have started running to protect their ears, those with ears screwed on right for a song like 'Parasite' are alert and ready for more.

Just listen to those drum fills in between all that noise. Louis Bradshaw is making quite an impression here. After this energetic intro the song brakes down totally and reveals the soft, almost whispering voice of singer Chloe Spence. Her voice is regularly multitracked, stacked Chloes reaching me in all sorts of highs and lows and different levels of intensity. And all at the same time.

Musically, Dutch prog band The Gathering from circa 30 years comes to mind, like on 'Mandylion'. Plantoid is able to bring the same level of mysteriousness to 'Parasite', until the U.K. version of the band returns, with a just as intense outro as the song started with. Guitarist Tom Coyne really takes his spot here, going full out.

From here on things do not get that intense any more. Plantoid is off to show all sorts of different sides to itself and its musicianship. The band is not afraid to experiment and explore where a song can take itself. That leads to some surprising changes in songs. I leave you to explore here for yourself. What stands out is the soft voice, even girl like voice of Spence. She may enter jazz territory every once in while, but always soft and gentle.

Promo photo

The two gentlemen behind her, assisted by producer and sometimes live member Nathan Ridley, take care of the wall of sound. The play subtlety when needed, but in a song like 'The Weaver' guitar overdubs enter my ears by brute force. In the lead single 'Dozer' it is more of a wall of sound, followed by a very jazzy outing. There are several sides to Plantoid. In most songs however brevity is not one of them. Songs are there to explore, turn inside out and see what comes out. In the Welsh studio, where the band was preparing for its second album, there was improvisation and jamming for hours on end, which led to FLARE. Debut album 'Terrapath' was released nearly two years ago.

Flair is an album that is not all for me. It moves towards my fringe regularly and even beyond my taste, but no matter what, the songs on FLARE impress without exception. It comes highly recommended to take your own chances.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order FLAIR here:

https://plantoidworld.bandcamp.com/album/flare