TERRAPATH

The musical musing of Chloe Coyne and Tom Coyne who wanted to nourish their fetish for 70s classic psychedelic rock mixed with hard rock and jazzy constructs, the life partners quickly formed the band Mangö in 2019 and then relocated to Brighton, England and found quite a few gigs around the city where they eventually met and recruited bassist Bernardo Larish and drummer Lous Bradshaw who shared the couple's passion for similar progressively oriented music that was retro in influence but tailored to the modern world. The trio soon changed the band name to PLANTOID and honed their chops enough so that they attracted the attention of the Bella Union label and started releasing several singles to get their passions heard.

Debuting in 2024 with the first release TERRAPATH, this band offers a very interesting mix of jazz rock infused with psychedelic rock, heavier math rock guitar outbursts and a tad of indie rock which guarantees that PLANTOID is no one trick pony and goes above and beyond the call of duty in crafting a unique slice of varied eclectic prog for the 2020s. While beginning with an ethereal echoey guitar sequence it's tempting to think that this will be one of the trippiest lysergic psychedelia experiences set to sound that you could possibly experience in the 3D construct of consciousness but then PLANTOID reveals itself to be a master of exotic spices by taking musical twists and turns that culminate into a hard indie rock / punk guitar frenzy. And that's just the first track.

The album only continues to meander from track to track with staccato guitar stomps, neo-psychedelic atmospheres and jazz-infused percussive workouts. Add to that the divine feminine charm of lead singer Chloe Coyne whose angelic contributions anchor the project more to ethereal space rock but when her soft spoken lyrical delivers drop out of the scene the time signature prog rock outbursts of the guitar, bass and drums take over making this a wild ride of an album as best experienced on the single "Dog's Life" which somehow integrates the world of math rock and post-punk into the confines of what should be a trippy psychedelic dream pop track. This trio is a master of this crazy fusion approach all the while never leaving the jazz-infused chord progressions to wander off too distantly far.

The dramatic contrast of the angelic with the caustic is juggled with razor-sharp precision always threatening to fall off the tightrope but results in mastering the art of balance like a seasoned Cirque du Soleil performer. The whole thing is quite original in how it offers an alienating effect while finding just enough Earthly elements to keep you anchored to traditional orthodoxies. If you ask me the way Chloe Coyne places her vocal phrasing in conjunct with the instrumentation reminds me a lot of Brazilian samba and the whole jazzy softer parts cement that connection even further. Except for the heavier outbursts that don't happen as much as the softer tones and timbres, the album feels like a drift in the clouds like some sort of Star Wars cantina lounge act that offers a universal approach to its extension of an Earth music known as jazz.

A very interesting newbie band for sure with lots of interesting creativity infused into its musical Frankenstein that is part math rock, part jazz, part psychedelia, part dream pop, part funk, part jam band and completely experimental but in a really easily accessible type of way. This is the kind of band that takes familiar sounds and juxtaposes them just a little bit out of the norm and then adds other elements in places where you wouldn't exactly expect and then pacifies the soul with angelic vocal delivers, mesmerizing atmospheric backdrops and a touch of normalcy to keep the whole project from becoming too detached from the gravitational forces of the mother planet. This is quite a pleasant album and a fascinating new band that screams with vitality and freshness. Definitely a band to look out for. This creative first offering is very scrumptious indeed.