The bridge from the internal soul of songs to where the artists make the connection with the public is not a given. Yet on Plants and Animals new album The End of That the trio manages to perfectly expand their song palette while still retaining their integrity.
In fact, the journey from the first track titled Before with the lyric “Forget about me and everything that came before” to the last track Runaways with lyrics such as ” I never dreamed we’d make it this far” or “Were almost there but so is the end” can be seen by some, as how all of us go through our life with our blinders on, removing them from time to time to get a taste of our own life.
Musically, their is a gorgeous alt/country Decemberists feel to the title track, Lightshow has a more layered sound, very expanded while Why & Why and Control Me have a rock sound that shows P & A could easily adopt a bass player or even keyboard player on a live tour format much like The Black Keys have done.
Elsewhere, No Idea may be the most poignant song the band has ever recorded.
In the end, P & A can be a band all over the place style wise but their sound has grown. What were once sketches now reveal a band built on beautiful destruction headed for redemption. Excellent Album!
JOHN EMMS is a veteran music journalist, singer-songwriter www.johnemms.com radio show host http://emms.podbean.com/ and rocker www.theshaftmen.com
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