PLAID share new video, ahead of forthcoming album and live dates

Plaid share new single ‘Perspex’

 

Taken from forthcoming album ‘Feorm Falorx’

Released November 11^th on vinyl, CD, download and stream via Warp 

 

Watch the ‘Perspex video here
 

Stream ‘Perspex’ on DSPs here

 

Pre-order ‘Feorm Falorx’

 

Photo credit: Emma Catnip

 

Tour dates:

 

05-Nov-22 Erased Tapes 15. @ Printworks, Greater London, GB

10-Nov-22 Quarterhouse, Kent, GB

19-Nov-22 Plaid Album Launch @ The White Hotel, Greater Manchester, GB

23-Nov-22 This is Tmrw @ Hare And Hounds, West Midlands, G
26-Nov-22 Whelan's, Dublin, IE

30-Nov-22 Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, England

 

Electronic cornerstones Plaid’s new single ‘Perspex’ is taken from their forthcoming album ‘Feorm Falorx’, which finds the duo recreating a recent gig at the Feorm Festival – an intergalactic shindig held on the planet Falorx. In order to survive the Falorxian atmosphere they were converted into light, so the traditional recording devices they'd taken on their spacecraft 'The Campbell' were not functional. Fortunately, having consulted Earth's Space Agency, it was deemed safe to recreate the performance back in their London studio. 

 

“’Perspex’ is a short film inspired by the idea of Light Beings created on Feorm Falorx. I took the themes of transparency and sentience and imagined a new consciousness awakening through these constantly evolving sculptures. To achieve this I generated unique animations using an AI-powered notebook, to explore the latent space where words are translated into images”, explains the video’s creator Emma Catnip. 

 

On the cusp of their 30th year with Warp records, now is the time to reflect on the massively important presence of Plaid, aka Ed Handley and Andy Turner. An institution since the late 80s, they’re monumental cornerstones for any self-respecting electronic music fan; mainly as Plaid, but also under aliases including The Black Dog and Balil - not to mention their work with Bjork. 

 

Playful and wondrous, their 11th album ‘Feorm Falorx’ is generally gentler than the dark angularity of its predecessor ‘Polymer’, but it’s no less deep, and maintains the melodicism for which they’re loved. It’s still highly rhythmic too - traversing ‘Set If Off’ hi-hats, digitised harpsichords, mangled mandolin, cascading strings, rude basslines, mercurial grooves and even a touch of goth guitar. 

 

Keen advocates of technology, here they manage to sound cutting edge, but also warm, human and nostalgic - purveying a sort of high-tech-retro-futurism. As usual they’re ever evolving, but there’s also a line traceable right back within their own music.  From their maverick early releases until now, they’ve embraced new methods of synthesis and explored diverse musical styles, maintaining a thread that spins through the early hip hop of their youth and beyond - to the sounds of the 60s and 70s that inspired it. Although not immediately obvious, on closer listen you can discern the influence of wigged-out grooves like Prince’s ‘Soft and Wet’, Bob James’ ‘Westchester Lady’ and Jethro Tull’s ‘Bourée’.

 

The album artwork and press photos were created using a myriad of AI technology, Image Synthesis and OpenAI's DALL·E, which can be seen in action here. Expanding on the same theme using AI/AR mechanisms, these will be followed by videos and a graphic novel, building into a whole Falorxian planet.