By Griffith Fuller
By Griffith Fuller
Now biology isn’t the only way to learn about “plants and animals” – there’s a Canadian band that offers lessons of its own.
While rock and roll is finally beginning to crawl out of its emo/screamo era, it still maintains a generic sound on a mainstream level.
Plants and Animals stands out from its peers because of its nostalgic sound that is reminiscent of bohemian 1970s rock.
“Parc Avenue,” the band’s first full-length album, is kick-back music for the dorm on Saturday mornings and sunny road-trips. It is music that reflects the peaceful aspects of nature and all of its positive connotations.
Tracks like “Faerie Dance” and “New Kind of Love” resemble Death Cab for Cutie or Andrew Bird at their mellow points. The tracks include the multi-layer acoustic guitars, haunting background vocals, strings and unpredictable song structures.
“Mercy” is a catchy tune that inherits the blues, swagger and soul of early Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones.
From the quasi-punk tempo of “Feedback in the Field” to the tranquility of “Early in the Morning,” Plants and Animals’ range and flexibility in emotions is just as pivotal as its quality.
Warren Spicer sings in “Keep It Real,” a song that is a reminder of Beatles psychedelics, “We want to keep it real, just like we use to feel.” It’s no doubt that the band has succeeded at presenting an album that stays true to its members’ vision as artists.
Some bands rip off their idols and flood the music market with redundancy; Plants and Animals avoids that by not trying to sound just like their favorite artists, but by creating a collage of their influences and injecting their own sprit, voices and individuality into it.
The great thing about Plants and Animals’ music is that it took all of the best elements of rock and roll from the golden decades of the 1960s and 1970s and produced an eclectic project that stands as a strong piece of art on its own.
Plants and Animals, altogether usually classified as eukaryotic organisms, can now also be classified as a great indie-rock band that chose to make musical bliss out of the complexity of their jams.
