Plants & Animals - Waltzed in from the Rumbling - Rock - CD

Plants and Animals - Waltzed in from the Rumbling - Waltzed in from the Rumbling is a strong effort from a band that's been around a while, making this kind of lovely indie -rock since it was topping the CMJ charts in the mid -2000s. As other, bigger names wandered in the direction of disco (The Arcade Fire) or electronica (Sufjan), Plants & Animals have continued to hone their sound, and this new album is a testament to that work. While their contemporaries have changed or fallen away, Montreal-based indie rockers further hone their sound. The fourth album from the Montreal-based band is ambitious, and happily, more successful than not for all those ambitions. To call it chamber pop might be technically accurate, but wouldn't allow for the scope of the record, pulling in enough horns, woodwinds, and strings to warrant the word "symphony." But the band does so with taste and a sense of reserve, only allowing cacophony in key moments. Oftentimes they're quite minimal and groovy, relying on the simple core of their trio to drive the song. Songs like album- opener "We Were One" and "All of the Time" recall Radiohead most heavily, whether through a forlornly struck piano or an off-kilter groove featuring distinctly Yorke-ian wailing.

• WALTZED IN FROM THE RUMBLING
• Rock
• Secret City Records