Plants And Animals "Park Avenue" (Secret City)
By Marc Labelle
Friday. May 09, 6:33 PM
Grandiose and free-spirited.

The cover of Park Avenue resembles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Basement Tapes, and Cripple Crow: a meticulously detailed assortment of colorful characters. Musically, the album shares some common elements with the aforementioned albums – i.e. a grandiose, free-spirited, full-sounded whole – but is nevertheless peppered with enough surprises to stand on its own and avoid falling prey to simple comparisons.

Plants And Animals, essentially a three-piece, originated as an acoustic band. With the recent release of their With/Avec EP, Plants And Animals displayed so much promise and garnered enough anticipation for their full-length from critics and audiences alike.

Musically, this is a full sound. They blend country-tinged slide guitars, gospel, soul, and folk along post-rock crescendos. In fact, though (as aforementioned) Plants And Animals were known as a rather acoustic, instrumental band, Park Avenue sees them venturing into at times pop-prog-rock variations. Songs will change tempo, groove, and altogether theme within a five minute span. Given the amount of guests singers and musicians aboard for the ride, it is difficult to pigeonhole Park Avenue.

Opener “Bye Bye Bye” sets the stage: a whirling backdrop of pianos, guitars, and drums, sounding at once boisterous yet delicate. Shadowing Warren Spicer’s singing is an The Arcade Fire-like chorus shouting “bye, bye, bye.” It resembles a joyous, uproarious campfire sing along.

As the album progresses with its assorted instrumentation and epic sprawls, one track stands out. “Mercy” begins with an almost Mariachi-reggae vibe, until at the three minute mark, moonlighting cheerleaders take over. The Pom-Pom Girls add frantic chants to the already desperate song. Consequently, “Mercy” creates a tension that is at once glorious yet anxiously intense.

With Park Avenue, Plants And Animals have demonstrated that they are not ones to shy away from theatrical, ambitious songs.
www.plantsandanimals.ca
www.secretcityrecords.com

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Marc Labelle

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