Cincinnati's Plastic Ants, purveyors of lovely "maximum chamber pop," follow up this year's gorgeous full-length debut LP, "Falling to Rise," with a new track "Imperial Phase." Listen above! Plastic Ants' dreamy orchestrations come from the friendship and collaboration of four music scene veterans: John Curley, bassist for Afghan Whigs, Joe Klug, drummer for Wussy, Robert Cherry, singer/songwriter perhaps best known from his many years as top editor of Alternative Press magazine, and Guy Vanasse, a multi-instrumentalist and singer with deep classical training. Cellist Amy Gillingham and Lisa Walker, Wussy's stellar singer, guest on the Falling to Rise album as well.
"I don't even consider (Plastic Ants to be) rock music," Cherry said in a recent interview. "It's hard pop with timeless classical arrangements. We wanted to keep the instrumentation more acoustic because that's where the songs originated and closer to how they were written. We like that instrumentation in terms of how timeless it can be. The collision of rock players and classical players made for some funny moments in the studio. At one point, John and I were trying to explain the appeal of AC/DC — a guitarist wearing a school boy's outfit accompanied by a shirtless singer shouting sexual innuendos. They gave us this blank look and humored us."
I'm glad, because they sure make beautiful music together.
Plastic Ants play a free show at Cincinnati's MOTR Pub on Monday, September 28.
Trailer for "Falling to Rise" below:
(album cover photo at top by John Curley)
