Plants and Animals

Written by Dayo Adesokan, filed under Q+A and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Q+A
Friday
July 9th
4:08 pm

Earlier this year, Eleven Magazine got a chance to speak to Woody of Montreal-based indie band, Plants and Animals, prior to the release of its 2nd studio release, “La La Land.” The band, which also includes Concordia University colleagues Nicolai and Lauren, had chosen to ring in the decade with months of impassioned recording sessions and American shows, including a tiring six performances in three days at this year’s SXSW.

Plants and Animals, “Faerie Dance

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In this late-dawn phase before the band’s most extensive North American tour, Woody took this opportunity to reflect on the differences between “La La Land,” and its first release “Parc Avenue”: “The songs are shorter, poppier. There’s twists and turns that take it away from cookie cutter music. We try to make stuff that reveals itself to the listeners a little more slowly. You get a longer chew.” Having listened to both albums extensively, I can vouch for the enduring freshness of the band’s recordings, even in the face of triple-digit play-counts.

Woody gave the following description of the band’s song-writing approach:“Lauren will bring in an idea, like a guitar demo or a vague melody, and the three of us put it all together. Often lyrics come last; the song has a feel and the lyrics reflect the feel.” The meaning of this comment is well-signified by “Faerie Dance,” a seven-minute number on “Parc Avenue” so deceptively fluid that it hides the effort of its brilliant structure. He explained: “We put a lot of effort into recordings, into sounds. It’s not about being elitist or esoteric. It’s about caring for that sort of thing. These days its about how many songs you can fit into your little box instead of what your little box sounds like.” Perhaps its time we made room in our little boxes for our friendly neighbors up north.

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