Scott Plant: Alone / With Us 12″

Description

EP by Scott from Broken Prayer, Droid’s Blood, etc.

Our take: Alone / With Us is the second solo EP from Scott Plant, following a lathe cut 10 from a few years ago. Through projects like Civic Progress, Broken Prayer, Droids Blood, and Canal Irreal, Scott has made some of my favorite music of the modern punk era, and his turn toward pure electronic music has not dampened my enthusiasm one bit. Indeed, it seems like Scotts music evolves one step ahead of me, with him experimenting with new styles just as theyre coming onto my radar. Indeed, Ive been listening to more and more electronic music lately, and Alone / With Us fits in with artists Ive enjoyed (like Mandy, Indiana and Rakta, for instance) while carrying forward the things I love most about Scotts previous music, namely his brilliant lyrics. The title of this EP is the name of the first two songs, and they seem like a matched pair here, the first song presenting a portrait of a loner who hustles in the dog eat dog world, while the second track shifts the perspective to a group (religious? professional? something even more sinister?) that targets those loners by offering them the sense of belonging they insist they dont want but secretly crave. The music, like all of Scotts music, is just brilliant. There are no guitars here, just driving electronic drums and a symphony of synths playing off one another with the deftness of a well-seasoned band. Im not articulate enough to explain what is so distinctive about Scotts music, but its instantly identifiable here and Im as in love with it as ever. If youre a card-carrying member of the Scott Plant fan club like I am, you need this, but I cant imagine any hardcore punk kid with a curiosity about electronic music wont love this.