Plastiscene releases 17 new demos
By: Madeline Milton
Tags: Music, Britpop, Review, Britrock, Rock

Plastiscene releases 17 new demos

Band photo on Bandcamp

Before the virus hit in February of this year, the 90s indie rock band, Plastiscene came out of hiatus with three “EPs” on Bandcamp: The American Recording Sessions, Proving Ground Sessions, and Rollercoaster. Since then, the band has started social media accounts posting pictures and videos from when the band was still alive in the 90s.

Compared to the masterpiece that was their debut album, Seeing Stars, most of the songs released on these three EPs was disappointing. But while they can’t stand up any of those songs, there are a number of gems scattered across the new releases.

I say “new demos,” but none of these songs were written or recorded in the past decade. Drummer Billy Slater has said that The American Recording Sessions was recorded before Plastiscene EP, and according to Bandcamp, Proving Ground Sessions was done in 1997 (the same year as Plastiscene EP). Rollercoaster EP was recorded at Rollercoaster Recording in Burbank, CA after the band was dropped from the Mojo Records label.

The American Recording Sessions - 9.6/10

In my opinion? The American Recording Sessions should have been the band’s debut EP. Where Plastiscene EP was 50/50 great vs terrible, The American Recording Sessions is consistent and gets even better as you progress through the tracks. The first three songs, I Won’t Let You Down, Hold in the Sky, and Roundabout are your everyday Brit pop/rock numbers, and then you are hit with the sweet falsetto tones of My Friend before ending the experience with the outstanding “Blur to You.” The EP takes you on a mystical ride through friendship, failed relationships, and internal conflict, and it almost leaves your head spinning. The vocals are strong and not disgustingly nasal like “Hey You,” and they’re even some of the best I’ve seen from any Plastiscene song or record yet.

Proving Ground Sessions - 4.2/10

Proving Ground Sessions, however, was not only bad, but it is the worst collection of songs I’ve ever seen from lead singer Roger Gisborne. This four-song EP is mostly filled by songs held up by repeated phrases and lyrics. “All in All” is okay, but is lacks any dynamics and feels emotionless in its presentation. “She Won’t Say” can be catchy, but it can also get old with too many plays. The worst of the four is by far “Cut the Strings,” which just so happens to be the closest song I am to hating by Plastiscene. The guitar is bland and nothing special, but the song is made worse by the chorus: “Round and round and round and round and round and round we go.” How is this not “Roundabout?” But thank goodness it’s not; I can’t understand how anyone thought the irritating drone of the unstable pitch was ever a good idea for a song.

The only good track to be salvaged off this one is easily “A Northern Town.” I’ve always loved the use of rain as a metaphor in songs, and this song never ceases to amaze me every time I hear it. The strings and piano are gentle and have a sort of plummeting sensation in their notes, and the slight delay of the vocals also give off this effect. One line of the chorus, “The rain falls down,” is repetitive, but it only furthers the metaphor and immerses you in the rainfall occurring throughout the song. I suspect this one is a memory of England, and as someone who has never left her home country, the situation set in the first verse (“I don’t know why we came here anyway”) is a captivating thought that fills me with curiosity and a desire for adventure.

Rollercoaster - 6.8/10

Rollercoaster isn’t a terrible compilation of songs, but it is because of the album that preceded it that makes it so disappointing. Seeing Stars was whimsical, innocent, and beautiful in a simplistic way. Maybe it was the short time that Gisborne spent writing the songs or the producer, but there is no doubt that Plastiscene’s first album was an oddity among the bunch.

While Rollercoaster is a very different album than Seeing Stars, most of the ideas and themes were one in the same. Compared to songs like “Picture in My Mind” and “She Goes On”; “Disconnected,” “Yellow and Green,” “Sympathetic Eyes,” and “Tick Tock” don’t seem so different anymore. And the sound of this album is even apparent on Seeing Stars with the closing track, “Up or Down.”

Other albums aside, Rollercoaster has so many good sounds that are catchy and easy to like. “Caught and Amazed” features more of Gisborne’s excellent falsetto vocals, “New World Dream” utilizes echoed vocals in a manner reminiscent of other Britpop stars like The Beatles, and “Tick Tock” (though it has a basic song structure) contains some amazing and stinging lyrics and crying vocals — “Tick tock goes the clock/As I’m drowning in the rain…”

But not every song comes without its flaws. Arguably the best song on the album, “Sympathetic Eyes” is destroyed with a lukewarm ending that leaves no impression on the effect or dynamics of the song. “Disconnected” ending with an alternated verse over quieted instrumentals turned out fine in a rhetorical sense, but “Sympathetic Eyes” spent an entire 2.5 minutes setting up a situation and asking questions. The song switches from singing and formulating theories to complaining and getting angry in the bridge, and our resolution comes in the last two repeated lines: “Listen to the voice up in your head/Before you’re dead.” It dies out almost instantly as if the band had died from a heart attack before anyone could realize what had hit them.

All in all, my opinion of Plastiscene died just a little bit after hearing these demos. I am of course addicted to “A Northern Town” and “Blur to You,” but while I don’t hate any song the band has released, hearing the rejects made me appreciate both Seeing Stars and Gisborne’s later career even more.

Overall Rating: 6.9/10