Musically beautiful and lyrically surreal, Plain Mister Smith’s debut album ‘I’m Just Plain Mister Smith’ captures a gorgeous light airiness while retaining a poignant sense of melancholy throughout. Compared to artists ranging from Death Cab For Cutie to Sufjan Stevens, the Vancouver based artists unique blend of indie-pop and folk is truly effecting, delightfully moorish.
A collection of 9 tracks that bring together intricate acoustic and electric guitar riffs with electronics, strings, driving bass lines and both electronic and live drums, the album is full of spacious soundscapes that move effortless through interesting, often fairly complex chord progressions. Each track posses an otherworld auras and yet still manages to remain grounded under the tight, often satirical lyricism that slots tightly in with the rhythms of the instrumentation.
With some brilliant guest vocal performances throughout courtesy of Jordan Klassen and Jocelyn Price, the album is full of highlights: from the entrancing chord progressions and effortlessly entrancing vocal delivery on ‘Airport Lounge From Hell’, to the haunting, choppy ‘Satori Space’ and the stunning overlapping harmonies of ‘Flawed Diamonds’.
Speaking about the album, Plain Mister Smith adds: “I’m Just Plain Sister Smith album is a dog’s breakfast of lyrical jewels, exploring alien arrivals, self-loathing and delusion, seduction in space, and cat cafes in Osaka. Sonically the music creeps and rolls along and soars too, and sometimes the guitars and strings and keyboards are lush and pastoral, on top of which Jordan Klassen and Jocelyn’s Prices’ vocals can intermesh and hypnotise. Maybe there’s something here for music obsessives, who like their music a little pop but rogue too, where you never quite know what lies around the next sonic corner”.
An album full of atmosphere, faultless instrumentation and innovative ideas, Plain Mister Smith’s debut comes fully recommended from me:
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