In June, a review of Plastic Mermaids’ Glastonbury performance observed the Isle of Wight band’s “carnivalesque” melding of influences, from folk to pop, jazz to psychedelia. It’s an approach that has drawn understandable comparisons to The Flaming Lips, with debut album Suddenly Everyone Explodes emulating the US act’s eccentric soundscapes.
On their magnificent follow-up It’s Not Comfortable to Grow, frontman Douglas Richards takes on the role of psych-pop space explorer, drifting through galaxies of celestial choirs, sunbursts of brass, and synths – masterminded by his brother, Jamie – that blink and whirl like shooting stars. There’s an ambitious cinematic quality to it all. The title track is superb: at its climax is a euphoric, pulsating synth line, rocketing skywards only to plummet without warning, landing amid sparse piano notes and Richards’ vocodered whispers.
“Girl Boy Girl”, flouncing in on a buzzy electric keys hook, has a touch of the baroque about it. “Something Better” is a carousel waltz tempered by Richards’s morose monologuing. Then there’s “Epsom Salts”, with its spaghetti western guitar strums, plodding keys, and lyrics that allude to lingering memories and knowing (or not knowing) when to let go. “I can’t let you in,” Richards sings on “It’s Pretty Bad”, almost drowned out by a cacophony of brass. “I can’t let you out.” He lets loose on the sultry, swaggering “Disco Wings”, declaring “it’s my life and I don’t care if I get it right or wrong”. And however far one song might veer, there’s always something – a crunchy riff, a synth breakdown – that maintains the record’s sense of cohesion. It’s compositional brilliance and, contradicting the title, proof this band are evolving in spectacular fashion. - ROC
Plastic Mermaids - It's Not Comfortable To Grow
1. It's Not Comfortable To Grow
2. Girl Boy Girl
3. Disposable Love
4. It's Pretty Bad
5. Environmental
6. Life's A Colourful Thing When You Look At It Right
7. Disco Wings
8. Marbles
9. Something Better
10. Elastic Time