Whitney - Candid - CASSETTES

Darkest clouds have sealed the sky, Powerplant is back and has brewed it's strongest yet. Bridge of Sacrifice emerges from the cauldron - a fun, black metal infused journey through all that is heavy and gothic. Powerplant, the solitary project of Ukraine-born, London-based Theo Zhykharyev, is distinguished by it's giddy bass, sizzling synth lines and melancholic vocal hooks. From the lo-fi synth-punk of 2019's breakout debut album, People in the Sun to the instrumental 2022 dungeon-synth , Stump Soup and the kaleidoscoping Grass EP (2023), to last year's 80's rock explorations on the moody InchCrashing Cars' 7Inch and the Michael Mann-inspired Heat EP. On Bridge of Sacrifice, Powerplant's second full-length album, Zhykharyev once again rebrands and reinvents Powerplant as a gothic beast. Zhykharyev's voice takes center stage with resolute and dramatic singing, dialed in after years of touring. The familiar Gary Numan-esque synth or early Powerplant works is elaborated with orchestral strings, grand piano and heavenly choirs. Heavy and full drum sound replaces the vintage digital drum machine samples. The musical pallet is further expanded with moving cello performances by Hani Hooper, adding a grotesque cherry on top of this musical cake. Although the new is styled in an eerie, extreme metal fashion, Bridge of Sacrifice is Powerplant to it's core. The tracks on which it runs are founded from approachable pop songwriting, and melodic vocal hooks. The album's quest for avid genre exploration keeps the musical journey fresh, as it carries you through the depths and extremities of metal-punk, blackgaze, industrial and acoustic campfire folk. New-found malevolence is neutralized by the familiar playfulness and humor of Powerplant, which, mixed like paint, absorb the first time listener in intriguing dichotomy of confronting elements. The production has received a majo

Whitney - Light Upon The Lake [CASSETTES] date 06/03/2016

Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek could hear the staggering differences in the songs they were writing for their third album as Whitney, SPARK the buoyant drum loops, the effortless falsetto hooks, the coruscant keyboard lines. They suddenly sounded like a band reimagined, their once-ramshackle folk-pop now brimming with unprecedented gusto and sheen. But could they see it, too? So in the ad hoc studio the Chicago duo built in the living room of their rented Portland bungalow, a shared 2020 escape hatch amid breakups and lockdowns, Julien and Max decided to find out. Somewhere between midnight and dawn every night, their brains refracted by the late hour and light psychedelics, they'd play their latest creations while a hardware store disco ball spun overhead and slowed-down music videos from megastars spooled silently on YouTube. Did their own pop songs-so much more immediate and modern than their hazy origins-fit such big-budget reels? InchWe'd come to the conclusion we weren't going to be filming Super 8 videos to this stuff anymore,Inch Julien remembers with a grin. InchHow about something more hi-fi, cinematic?Inch When the footage and the tunes linked, Julien and Max knew they had done it, that they'd finally found Whitney's sound. SPARK reintroduces Whitney as a contemporary syndicate of classic pop, it's dozen imaginative and endearing tracks wrapping fetching melodies around paisley-print Dilla beats and luxuriant electronics. What's more, Whitney reduces three years of extreme emotional highs and lows into 38 brisk but deep minutes, each of these 12 tracks a singable lesson in what it is they (and, really, we) have all survived. The recalcitrant ennui of opener InchNOTHING REMAINS,Inch the devastating loss of InchTERMINAL,Inch the sun-streaked renewal of InchREAL LOVEInch However surprising it may sound, SPARK is less a radical reinvention for Whitney than an