After two days of listening to dance music I truly needed something completely different. I may have found the polar opposite when I came across Plastic Willow. The band is made up of just one 19 year old man named, Van Jane Willow. Although he is young in years, he has strong feelings about what pop music has become today. According to Van, music is suffocating and needs to return to the raw and organic being that it used to be and insanity makes great music. He may be crazy but I think I like it.
His debut release is a full album entitled Lunar Pulse. The album is very hard to place into any one category so we will call it something like ‘experimental or abstract’. Please don’t assume this is a bad thing, this is quality music by someone who is not afraid to take risks and share dark, deep lyrics. When the first lyrics of the first song ‘Repulsion’ tell you “I hope you die a fiery death” you know you are in for a deep listen. If I had to compare it to something else, thoughts of Radiohead’s KID A come to mind.
Plastic Willow states the album is meant to mimic life’s raw simplicity by using one track takes and distorted loops. It does make for quite an interesting listen. One where you don’t fast forward to one certain hit track, but instead take in the full 40 minutes of the album and regain consciousness when the last song ‘Glitch’ ends and your iPod knocks you out of your trance when it shuffles to a song you have heard a million times before. It will leave you thinking, I promise.
The aim of Plastic Willow on Lunar Pulse is to plant the seed that imperfection can still be acceptable in hopes that one day that seed will grow. I believe the seed in me has started to sprout.
Download the album for free and listen for yourself at: