Canadian act Plants and Animals have never managed to match their excellent first album Parc Avenue (2008). This debut is full of great pop singles, inventive prog rock, psychedelia, folk and alternative charm. I still play it regularly, but sadly the same can’t be said of their subsequent releases. While 2010’s La La Land added a nice enough 1970s West Coast vibe, it has not been revisited since by me. Next album, The End of That from 2012, was even more forgettable.
Waltzed In From The Rumbling is the next attempt to match Parc Avenue and in some ways it’s the closest they’ve got so far. The same laid back, improvisational structure of the songs helps gives it a warmth that their previous two albums lacked.
It also has two career best songs, full of interesting psychedelic rock and folk twists and turns. Off the Water is one of these as it meanders wonderfully through its smart keyboard and guitar hooks. Stay is the other. This starts with a soft, slight intro that at around the minute mark explodes into psychedelic pop.
But while these two tracks stand out, the rest is merely solid rather than spectacular and pleasant rather than euphoric. Opener We Were One sounds a little like filler Radiohead, albeit with a nice whimsical segment. They’ve also strayed worryingly into Broken Social Scene territory rather than finding their own voice. The vocals on Flowers in particular sound far too similar to BSS’s Kevin Drew.
Is it fair to constantly throw their stunning debut album at Plants and Animals when reviewing other releases? Probably not, but with even the band’s own press release being nosed around the greatness of Parc Avenue, these comparisons are not going to go away any time soon.
This is as near as they’ve come so far to emulating that quality, but its still a long way from Parc Avenue.
6/10
by Joe Lepper
Plants and Animals – Waltzed In From The Rumbling is released on Apr 29.
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