PLANTOID - Flare

With their debut “Terrapath”, Plantoid proved that there are still other possibilities for contemporary progressive rock. The Brighton trio absorbed a multitude of styles (math-rock, psychedelia, jazz, funk, soul, kraut, shoegaze) into an apparently ordinary framework, with an expressive fluidity and rhythmic agility that keep the risk of self-indulgence at bay.

“Flare” is, both conceptually and musically, the natural evolution of what was sown on the first album. The band's attention is focused more on detail and instrumental scripting, partly setting aside the acrobatics of “Terrapath” in favour of a sharper, more essential musicality – one that enjoys a malleability broadening the English outfit's horizons, ready to win over listeners beyond the strictly prog-rock sphere.

After a minute of blistering riffs and impetuous rhythms, the album reveals a soul and funk soul that blends restraint with flamboyance, delivering one of the band's most compelling calling cards, "Parasite". The rest of the album finds Plantoid approaching progressive rock with a deft jazz touch reminiscent of King Crimson's "Discipline" ("The Weaver"), while also dusting off the refined contaminations of Yes's "90125" ("Dozer"). Technique is placed at the service of vibrant music that at times captures art-rock instincts in the vein of Field Music/Xtc ("Ultivatum Cultivation"), without ever giving in to chaos or sonic overload.

The creative chemistry between drummer Louis Bradshaw and guitarist Tom Coyne is electrifying: barely three minutes of "Splatter" are enough to appreciate the two musicians' ability to fuse rock's urgency with the geometric, harmonic craft of progressive rock, to thoroughly original effect.

Chloe Spence's vocal qualities (voice and second guitar) have gone largely unmentioned so far, but anyone who enjoyed Plantoid's debut already knows her expressive versatility. On "Flare" that role is given full weight through compositions steeped in elaborate, evocative folk and pastoral textures in the imaginative crescendo of "Good For You", a track where Chloe Spence duets with the flute before stepping, Alice-like, into a wonderland of psychedelic ecstasy and kraut-rock's rhythmic shifts. And it's again her voice that takes centre stage in the splendid dream-pop excursion of "Slow Morning", a sensual marriage of Cocteau Twins and Portishead tinged with folk and rhythm & blues, a small gem set within an already captivating sonic tapestry.

That "Flare" is a bold, adventurous album is evident in every one of its nine chapters. Even the seemingly more placid "Worn" shines with its own light, thanks both to the skilled production of the ever-faithful Nathan Ridley (the band's "fourth member" in live performances) and to the band's distinctive guitar interplay. Technical precision and lo-fi roughness become one within a sonic body that carries all the sinuous grace of post-rock.

It falls to the seven minutes and twenty-six seconds of "Daisy Chains" to close the album: a blazing jam session in which everything melts together and regenerates, a sonic labyrinth where dream-folk pauses and rock and prog surges crash against a frantic, pulsing rhythmic backbone that keeps the tension high, leaving behind a sense of wonder.

With "Flare", the Brighton band has dared to cross the boundaries of prog and is ready to chart new paths ahead: welcome aboard.

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10/02/2026