English trio
Still House Plants, consisting of
Jessica Hickie-Kallenbach (vocals), David Kennedy (drums) and Finlay Clark (guitar),
debuted with
the eight-song EP Still House Plants (Glarc, 2016) when they were still a quartet in Glasgow.
The House Sound Of Chicago is an exercise in
repetitive post-rock for bluesy lament, intricate drumming, minimalist guitar and soulful saxophone. The other pieces tend to be
catatonic dirges like Obi/ Lowe's.
Assemblages (Glarc, 2017) further encouraged the trio to experiment in multiple directions.
Hickie-Kallenbach is a full-fledged avantgarde vocalist in the
seven-minute Material,
drummer David Kennedy is all over the place, largely indifferent to her,
and guitarist Finlay Clark emits random notes at a slow pace as if permanently
in a trance.
Abridged Lowes is, on the other hand, a relatively straightforward nocturnal lounge ballad (not a coincidence that they title a song after Sade).
The operatic vocals and atonal guitar of Other recall prog-rock experiments like the Art Bears.
Monadnock is a disjointed garage-rock romp
Coco returns to the catatonic format of the EP.
David Adjaye Bridge sounds like the deconstruction of a Latin-jazz theme.
Long Play (Bison, 2018) is, if possible, even more
anarchic and dissonant.
The seven-minute Long Pass sounds like a tribal dance performed by Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, and
Left Brake is even more barbaric.
The operatic melodrama Shoulder Blade is anchored to violent piano patterns.
The drum solo Chicane,
the violin solo Tending Garden
and the guitar solo Strap-on are pure dadaism.
Spit sounds stoned,
Is It is a lounge ballad,
Fist Fight is a psychic catastrophe.
The music is further fragmented on
Fast Edit (Bison, 2020), which includes a 28-second piece
(Choppy Nice).
Most of it sounds like reprises of old ideas, from the
catatonic dirge Shy Song to the bluesy bacchanal of
September,
and some of it sounds like an inept attempt at sounding more accessible (Curb,
Crreeaase).
If I don t make it, I love u (Bison, 2024) suffers from the same issue: songs that are neither experimental not regular. The limbo in between is not
particularly engaging, although
Sticky, the
jazzy Silver Grit Passes Thru My Teeth,
the guitarwork in More More Faster,
and especially the oneiric 3scr3w3
are fascinating to an extent.
