Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti Is... Skyscraper

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4...according to our Brian on Thu 30 Jul, 2009.

In the absence of new Interpol material, it's nice of Paul Banks, the singer guy, to offer up his debut solo outing. He's got a mild conceptual thing going off with it, his nom de plume for this project is the cringeworthy 'Julian Plenti is....Skyscraper' which just strikes me as some not-very-funny private joke. That's not even a good porn name is it? Mine is Perkins McCarthy, shits on Julian Plenti eh? Bitching aside, this is absolutely great, very occasionally sounding a bit like Interpol but without the suffocating density & foreboding, more electronic flourishes and strange shit going off. 'Fun That We Have' is totally bizarre, i'm sure it keeps fluctuating slightly in tempo, sounds like it's gonna collapse in on itself at times, love the electronic burbles & everything about it. He's got a great, distinctive voice has this man and his familiar delivery is bound to keep the fans happy. The title track's bare bones are dressed in a stunning neo-folk style before it builds into a deep, powerful crescendo. 'Games For Days' is quite reminiscent of Der 'Pol with a chunky drum machine stand in and with that tender NY vocal shifting from emotive & conversational to stentorian bellow, you're in for a treat. I expected the most satisfying tracks to be when he rocks out a bit but for each one of those, there's some beautiful atmospheric tune like 'Madrid Song' with melancholy piano, dialogue samples & some gorgeous strings, or 'On the Esplanade''s tender folk beauty. So in a nutshell, this is much more eclectic than his main band's usual forte, but just as satisfying! You get the feeling Interpol could be led in many alternating directions after this collection, as their powerful signature sound is always in danger of becoming slightly staid. Really quite impressive, on Matador. CD/LP

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· Julian Plenti began composing music in 1996 in New York City. He first
played solo acoustic shows in and around Manhattan, at venues like
Tobacco Road, Pete's Candy Store, The Knitting Factory, The Living
Room, and the Sidewalk Cafe's Wednesday Night Anti-hoot with
Latch.
· In 2001, he stopped performing, though he continued writing and doing
occasional engineering work, he essentially went on sabbatical until 2006
when he acquired Logic Pro, which allowed him to compose for multiple
instruments and to create beats.
· The first step was to resurrect early acoustic work such as ‘Girl On The
Sporting News’, ‘On the Esplanade’, ‘Fly As You Might’ and ‘Fun
That We Have’ and to refurbish them with beats and string arrangements.
The resulting recordings bred newer enthusiasms and were the catalyst for
this record. ‘Skyscraper’ was born.
· In the fall of 2008, Plenti went to the Seaside Lounge Studio in Brooklyn
to work with studio co-owner and engineer - and college classmate -
Charles Burst (former drummer of The Occasion and now a solo artist).
Burst engineered much of the record and plays drums on a number of
tracks.
· Session musicians were hired to perform the arrangements for strings and
horns, and Plenti called on friends like Mike Stroud of Ratatat, Sam
Fogarino of Interpol and

Only If You Run * Fun That We Have * Skyscraper *
Games For Days * Madrid Song * No Chance Survival *
Unwind * Girl On The Sporting News *
On The Esplanade * Fly As You Might * H