After the runaway success of their debut album Terrapath, which cemented their status as the stewards of the UK's prog-rock scene, Plantoid have returned with their sophomore release: the enigmatic, arresting, and at times downright catchy Flare. Staying true to the band's math-rock roots, the album is awash in heavy, reverberated guitar licks, tempo changes, and mind-altering chord progressions-all while expanding Plantoid's signature sound towards new horizons, like wall-of-sound shoegaze and vocal-forward rock-pop. It does what all second albums do best; retain the core DNA that set its predecessor apart from the fray, yet evolve enough to excite old fans and new listeners alike.
"While making Flare, we did knowingly acknowledge that our sound had been very erratic," explains drummer Louis Bradshaw, who along with vocalist/guitarist Chloe Spence and lead guitarist Tom Coyne, make up the nucleus of Plantoid. "We never stayed on anything for too long. Before going into writing this album we wanted to slightly redefine what we were doing-it's less directly proggy. It strays from that sound a bit, while retaining that character."
If you're here for the time changes, long track durations, and jazzy mid-song freakouts, don't you worry, you'll still find plenty across the album's nine sprawling tracks. It's just that Plantoid have been able to tap into something deeper, more lived-in. With the help of producer/sometimes live member Nathan Ridley, who has helped the band craft their sonic identity since Terrapath, they've sought to indulge their groovier side, dissecting their songs further and letting their ingredients properly ferment into something new. "We wanted to sit in the music for a while, make a mood out of it rather than like changing it up so quickly," says Chloe. "We wanted to see ideas to their fullest extent."
There was a circumstantial element to this artistic evolution, as well as a creative one. After spending a solid year gigging in support of Terrapath, the band needed time away from the hustle and bustle to properly focus on their next chapter. This refuge came in the form of a writing retreat in Anglesey, Wales, where their label were able to set them up with [XX] Laurie [XX] who gave them full use of this converted studio. Under the (actually, quite prog-rock-sounding) Snowdonia mountains, the band were able to fully let loose and reconnect.
"We were at this beautiful place called Penhesgyn Hall," says Tom."We didn't intend to actually record the album there, but we loved it so much. There wasn't really much gear there, but the room itself is amazing." It's in this environment where the majority of the songs on Flare were conceived, during insular jam sessions that went late into the night. "We'd never really done that as a band before," explains Chloe. "We ended up writing and tracking pretty much a song a day-we'd have so much material. That's how we ended up with "Splatter": we were like, 'Well, we've done everything, let's try something new.'"
"Splatter" is one of the most innovative tracks on Flare, no less because Plantoid challenged themselves to write a track that was less than three minutes-something they'd never done before. It sounds raucous and off-kilter, Chloe's soprano register streaming through crunchy, wet guitar riffs and an itchy drum beat shuffling along at light speed. In a way, it stands in opposition to one of Flare's focus tracks, "Ultivatum Cultivatum", which is more classic Plantoid: Chloe and Tom's guitars languidly swirl around each other while her vocals recall the dreampop landscapes of bands like Cocteau Twins and Beach House. Both tracks are flipsides of the same coin, showcasing both the heaviness and intricate musicality that has become the band's calling card.
While Plantoid being a slightly different flavor to each one of Flare's tracks, it's perhaps lead single "Dozer" that is able to encapsulate the group's ethos as a whole. Six blistering minutes of labyrinthine math-rock, "Dozer" shifts from frenetic, pulsing riffs to subdued, experimental breakdowns and back again, gleefully throwing out the rulebook while anchoring the album's listening experience.
"It just kind of came together really quickly, and we instantly knew it was going to be a single," says Louis of the experience of writing "Dozer". "We're massive fans of Can and Neu! and all of those German krautrock bands, and wanted to do something similar to that, but with a really heavy, rhythmic hook. We wanted to really elongate the groove and really nail down on that motoric feeling. But that's also how we tackled everything with the album, it's all birthed from jams that we chipped away, glued together, and restructured."
On tracks like "The Weaver" and album closer "Daisy Chains", Chloe's vocals take center stage like never before. Plantoid have always been a band that have been able to create vast worlds through their instrumentation and production choices-on these tracks, a renewed focus on lyricism adds yet another layer. "When I was writing "The Weaver", I kept thinking of an animation of a little frog or mouse going on a really big journey, one that's bigger than itself," describes Chloe. "With that came this idea that the character in it was really squeaky and tiny, which kind of is where my vocal tonality came from, because this thing is innocent and going on a little humble journey-but then things start going wrong." Making space for Chloe's vocal experimentations was crucial in bringing the universe of Flare to life. "When we're writing the music comes quite quick and natural for us, but then it can be like, 'Shit, are you meant to sing over that?" laughs Tom. "A lot of these new songs were shaped around the vocals, which I think is a key feature to the progression of our sound."
And progress, clearly, is the name of Plantoid's game. Not just in terms of progressive rock, but leaning into the urge of always pushing forward, always discovering something new, excavating the layers and layers of stratified sediment between them until only a gleaming, polished stone remains. It's this dedication to the expansion of their craft that makes them both endlessly fascinating, and one of those most intensely imaginative rock bands in the UK today.