Frequently peppering the Dundee music scene with colour and exuberance, PLASMAS describe themselves as a, “jangly, reverb-driven indie band”. The group, consisting of Ross McQueen (Vocals, Guitar), Connor Edwards a.k.a. “Sked” (Bass), Conor McBay (Lead Guitar), Rory Strathie (Synth) and Sam Walker (Drums), released their debut single “Overblown” in May earlier this year. Their debut was recorded and produced at Dundee’s Magic Box Studios where the likes of hotly-tipped Scottish artists Beta Waves and Parliamo have both also recently recorded. To date, the band have performed with acclaimed Glasgow based artists The Ninth Wave and Lucia alongside several Dundee based bands such as The Roques and OHRIO. With their first venture out of the city of Discovery coming in the form of a Glasgow headline gig on November 3rd, PLASMAS are set to propel their vibrant vibes to larger audiences imminently - coinciding with the release of their latest single “Spark” which truly shows the bands reverb-driven, experimental colours to dazzling effect.
Working with producer Liam James for this track, “Spark” flows with a noticeably different sonic direction to that of their debut. With an impressive array of different effects featuring throughout such as various delays and oscillation, “Spark”, in my opinion, is an opening of another new direction of sound being projected from the diverse Dundee music scene at the moment – which can only be a good thing for PLASMAS.
The track pays homage to the likes of Tame Impala, Pond and Unknown Mortal Orchestra with distinctive washy vocal sounds featuring alongside atmospheric synth lines bursting throughout providing a great sense of uplift and enrichment. The uplifting notions however, are paired with rather contrasting, melancholy infused lyrics such as, ‘it’s maybe time to disembark, while we’ve still got time to grow’ and ‘there’s no love in your eyes… I know you try to hide the way you really feel inside’. This contrasting songwriting / lyric writing process, which has been championed in the past in tracks such as “There She Goes” by The La’s, showcases the band’s clever, intuitive songwriting abilities which encourage the listener to delve beyond the initial plethora of positivity projected from the instrumentation in the track and in doing so, uncover the real message the artist is trying to put across which lies gracefully encapsulated in the music, waiting to be explored.
The stand-out feature of “Spark”, for me, enters just before the 3:00 mark as the band change to a half time rhythm providing a strong hypnotic feel to the outro of the track. Featuring major 7th chords to create a captivating scene alongside oscillation in the synth parts and very spaced out vocal lines, as the track fades out it’s hard to not to feel a sense of joy, content and a yearning for more which ultimately results in the necessity of replaying the track... repeatedly.
For fans of PLASMAS looking for a very similarly recorded follow up to “Overblown”, this is perhaps not what they will want to hear. More importantly, what they will hear is a big step forward in the band’s plan towards achieving their vision in the form of a track that is full of experimentation, amiably blended effects and clever songwriting abilities which cultivate together and state that PLASMAS are a really exciting prospect going into the year ahead and certainly a band worth seeing live in the very near future.
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