reviews / 2010

PLANTS AND ANIMALS - La La Land

Name: PLANTS AND ANIMALS – La La Land
Item: La La Land
Rating: 5.5
Author: Lorenzo Righetto

2010 (Secret city)

psych-rock

by Lorenzo Righetto

5.5

The circus of the Montreal group rolls on again, following the intriguing debut of "Parc Avenue", an elusive work that reshuffled classic-rock influences into a psychedelic stew streaked with folk, prone to sudden swerves and excursions between genres and styles, in classic Canadian fashion. With this "La La Land" Plants And Animals seem to want to keep following that same path; they do retain the ingredients, in fact, but they completely lose that precious ability - precious for them in particular - to sound unpredictable. Often a creeping sense of incompleteness takes over, as in the opening guitar riff of the sun-baked "Tom Cruz" (and, bringing things full circle, in the closing "Jeans Jeans Jeans"); at other times our heroes get lost in soft, hazy ballads with a vague shamanic flavour, à-la Krug ("Undone Melody", "Swinging Bells", "Fake It", "Celebration", and the list, unfortunately, doesn't end there).

Also lost is the ability to show, when the occasion calls for it, a dramatic choral quality in the manner of Arcade Fire, with their grandiose codas seasoned with horns and majestic drum rolls (traces of it remain only at the close of "Undone Melody"). "La La Land" ultimately shows a band facing serious difficulties, stranded midway between a coherent continuation of its own sound and a decisive, worthwhile change of course.

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20/04/2010

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Lorenzo Righetto, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition