Plants and Animals - La La Land

Canadian trio Plants and Animals call their music “post-classic rock” and it’s a telling choice. In the first place, they are indeed trapped in days of boomers past. And in the second, as the phrase indicates, they are significantly less clever than they think they are.

Not that La La Land (a cloyingly stupid name, I’d add) is terrible. If when you think “classic rock” you think bad-ass swaggering riffs or weird creatively proggy song edifices this is going to be fairly disappointing. But if you think instead folksy Neil Young dirges and the draggier end of the Rolling Stones output, you’ll probably find this listenable. “Undone Melody” might as well be a “Wild Horses” remix, except for the whiny contemporary indie rock vocals and some nice harmonies halfway through. “American Idol” is more rocking, throwing in a saxophone for that Stones/Springsteen swinging boogie sound that always makes me want to reevaluate my affection for jump blues. And the chorus says, “I want to be your American Idol,” which I guess is irony for you. “Kon Tiki” sounds like the Eagles meet Jimmy Buffet if either of those bands was feeling especially jittery; sun-kissed music for pop perfectionists who want to pretend to be slackers.

The main problem here is that if you’re going to be decadently retro, you should really be weirder than your sources. Neil Young did plodding ten minute opuses; the Stones sang about morphine and produced albums that sounded like they were recorded underwater in a flooded basement. Plants and Animals references that kind of decadence — and then says, hey, wouldn’t this be more fun if it were less extreme and more wryly distanced? And, unfortunately, the answer there is “no.” No, it wouldn’t. These guys obviously have songwriting skills and they enjoy a lot of the same music I do, but to make a good album you need more than a bit of craft and a barrelful of nostalgia.

Recommended Tracks: “Undone Melody” “Kon Tiki” “Celebration”