photo by Brittney Bush Bollay
From Montreal, Plants and Animals play deliberate, carefully constructed indie rock that is sometimes subdued and desolate, and sometimes mellow but high-spirited indie rock that shows flashes of bands like MGMT and Animal Collective. On their second full-length album La La Land, which was released earlier this year, P+A have veered in a slightly different direction from their debut Parc Avenue with songs such as “American Idol,” the melodiously trippy “Kon Tiki,” and the lead-off track “Tom Cruz,” which features guitar that sounds like it was modeled after fellow Canadian Neil Young. Their recent in-studio performance at KEXP was incredibly moving, and we’re thrilled to have them at the Music Lounge.
As for their just-finished performance at the Music Lounge, it would be an understatement to say they fulfilled their role as the Lounge’s leadoff hitter for the festival. They began the set bathed with “Celebration” off of La La Land. Bathed in red light, vocalist/guitarist Warren Spicer and guitarist Nicolas Basque played heavily distorted and effects laden guitar riffs as Matthew Woodley provided drums behind a folding Plexiglas screen. Along with the guitar work, Spicer’s voice was a highlight of the set, soaringly reassuring us “All is well” to close out the opening song. They continued with to play “Good Friend,” off of Parc Avenue and “Game Shows.” Plants and Animals shined the brightest during their amazing and powerful build-ups, culminating in forceful distortion-laden crescendos with Spicer’s voice taking the songs higher and higher. They ended the set with “Undone Melody”, also off of La La Land. Like their other songs, “Undone Melody” started off slowly and sweetly before Spicer sang “righteousness is lame” before the band took off instrumentally, eventually ending with a forceful jam in which Spicer and Basque huddled together in front of Woodley’s Plexiglas screen to finish off the set.
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