{"id":76508,"date":"2022-06-30T20:11:28","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T18:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=76508"},"modified":"2022-06-30T22:39:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T20:39:06","slug":"review-of-bright-black-album-by-new-yorks-london-plane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2022\/06\/review-of-bright-black-album-by-new-yorks-london-plane\/","title":{"rendered":"DARK CABARET – New York’s London Plane Land Goth-Tinged Sophomore Album ‘Bright Black’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dark passions, personal grief and the rise of right-wing populism provide the fuel for Black Bright<\/em><\/strong>, the new release by goth\/post-punk rockers London Plane<\/strong>.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The follow up to 2018’s New York Howl<\/em><\/strong> sees the six-piece traversing some very black territory, leavened by sardonic humour and sparkling musical arrangements.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Led by vocalist and guitarist David Mosey<\/strong> – a kind of amalgam of Iggy Pop<\/strong>, Lux Interior<\/strong> and The Psychedelic Furs<\/strong>‘ Richard Butler<\/strong> – this six-piece collective of Big Apple veterans certainly knows how to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For much of the album, Mosey’s guttural baritone underpins co-singer Jessica Cole<\/strong>‘s cut glass, soaring pipes – think Andrew Eldritch <\/strong>and Patricia Morrison<\/strong> in The<\/strong> Sisters of Mercy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a ploy that works well, adding an air of unease and tension, which contrasts with the slick musical arrangements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guitar-playing by Mosey and Kristofer Widholm <\/strong>is uniformly excellent – angular and spiky one minute, polished and funky the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The production too, is well thought out and pristine, though perhaps a little too smooth for these ears.<\/p>\n\n\n

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NEW YORK STORIES – London Plane Picture by Alice Teeple <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Indeed there’s a sheen to many of these songs which can make them seem a bit cold and impenetrable – though that may well be the intended effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are familar gothic tropes – ghosts, devils and the like – but plenty of surprises too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bowie-esque Watch That Madman Go<\/em><\/strong> takes a pop at the rise of Trump and his ilk, while the title-track is an anti-war song with a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s high-concept sci-fi on Homocosmos<\/em><\/strong> – the name of the next step in evolution, when humans reach out to unknown worlds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While The Wish<\/em><\/strong> with its lovely Morricone<\/strong>-like spaghetti-Western chord progression, has lyrics which could have been witten by Terry Pratchett:<\/strong> ‘Once there was a haunted hell\/spinning on a tortoise shell’<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best of all though is the wonderful Electric Clock<\/em><\/strong>. which sees the band at its most unhinged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A full on cabaret show tune, it sounds like Peek-A-Boo<\/em><\/strong> by the Banshees<\/strong>, crossed with The New York Dolls<\/strong>, with a bit of Sally Bowles <\/strong>thrown in for good measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much more of this kind of weirdness and London Plane’s next musical offering should make for a very intriguing prospect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n