Canadian trio Plants and Animals have layers of labels upon them over the last 10 years. They have been referred to as indie, classic rock, and prog-rock just to name a few. We all know that "the greats" can not be labeled, and trying to place Plants and Animals into any genre would be an idle task.
Guitarist and vocalists Warren Spicer and Nic Basque are joined by drummer vocalist Matthew "Woody" Woodley are Plants and Animals. Beginning as an instrumental group, these Montreal friends have journeyed through their last two albums with grace.
After a couple of EP releases, their first full length album Parc Avenue made its debut on February 26, 2008 in Canada and March 25, 2008 in the U.S. on Secret City Records. It was nominated for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize and the 2009 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year. Plants and Animals also scored the 2009 Juno nomination for Best New Band along with three GAMIQ's.
This album spawned what we believe to be one of the best Plants and Animals tracks to date. Bye, Bye, Bye made its presence known to the world and was featured on Season 3 Episode 13 of the TV series Chuck. Parc Avenue featured string parts by Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire, although some will claim the album was overlooked. In hind site, it appears obvious that the powers that be were paying attention and Plants and Animals had marked their territory with Parc Avenue.
The band released their second LP, titled La La Land on April 20, 2010, also on Secret City Records. La La Land had a much edgier and courser vibe than its precursor but the album still managed to hold on to the trios folky roots allowing their layered attributes to start to emerge.
On February 28, 2012, Plants and Animals will release their third full length LP via Secret City Records. The End of That has high expectations to meet. The 7" features a live cover of Wolf Parade's "I'll Believe In Anything" on the B-side. You can check out the video here. Tour dates have been announced and the band will be mixing things up a bit by playing live with a bass player for the first time.
The new single off the album has been released. "Lightshow" is a slower yet guitar ripped track that is definitely a love child of Plants and Animals Parc Avenue and La La Land. It seduces you into their melodic sound and maturity.
"Let's make a new record," they say. "How do we do this? Let's do it differently-let's write a whole pile of songs and develop them big time before we go into the studio to record-let's not do the fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants routine for a change-too crazy, too pressed. Let's create in a cave, off the clock, take some time. Like normal people," they say.
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