Plexi 3 releases first L.P. “Tides of Change”
By Bobby Moore
Published: Thursday, August 27, 2009
Updated: Thursday, August 27, 2009
Plexi 3, Milwaukee’s finest three-piece band, continues to crank out
solid punk and garage-inspired pop with their first full-length L.P.,
“Tides of Change,” on Austria’s Bachelor Records.
The band features Wendy Norton on guitar and vocals, Adam Widener on
bass and vocals and drummer Ryan King. Together they write two-minute
garage-pop songs and play them live and in the studio with all the
ferocity of yesterday’s punk and today’s powerpop bands.
The title track is the real gem here, as it is a great example of how
the band mixes its influences to create a sound of their own. It
features Norton’s vocals and nifty guitar playing, both of which are
major selling points of the band’s first three singles.
Another Norton-fronted song, “Stop & Listen,” is a quick
tour-de-force of punk goodness reminiscent of an earlier Plexi 3 tune,
“Stabbing Fantasies.”
“Timebox,” a single the band released early this year on Full Breach
Kicks Records and the last track on this LP, featured a nice surprise
on its b-side in the Windener penned and sang tune “What Love is For.”
The Monkees-inspired song was a welcome preview of things to come, as
on this LP Norton shares vocal duty with Widener. He sings six of the
album’s 13 songs, including an Everly Brothers cover and a sing-along
with Norton called “Didn’t Really Matter.”
Norton still contributes heavily beyond her guitar playing on the songs
fronted by Widener, as she adds surf-pop backup vocals reminiscent of
The Beach Boys on “Heart I Had,” a song written by King, and plays
piano on “’Til It Comes True.”
Widener’s vocal talents are not a surprise this time around, since the
band let that cat out of the bag earlier this year. If there is a
surprise, it’s “Little Vacation,” a pretty tune that’s mellow in a Joe
Jackson or Helen McCookerybook kind of way.
Other highlights include “Menial,” a brutally honest assessment of the
common worker’s life (“You’ll make enough just to get by/You’ll work
for us until you die”) and “P.O. Box 9847,” a genuinely sweet love song
(“Some say it’s a dying art/Sending mail from the heart”).
A quick glance at the liner notes might draw your eyes to a familiar
name, as the band thanks Derek Lyn Plastic, a criminally underrated
Atlanta songsmith. The band stayed at DLP’s place last summer when
their vehicle broke down in Atlanta, and they were back at the
songsmith’s home in May to contribute to a couple of tracks for his
upcoming LP.
If you like garage rock, oldies or that old “Nuggets” compilation, do
yourself a huge favor and pick up this LP/CD, as it is a fresh take on
some timeless sounds.
