Planet Brain - Forecasts
Italian trio Planet Brain have been hard at it since their inception in 1999 with two albums and several important festivals in their homeland under their belt. Now they've chosen to look further afield and the UK's high up on their hit list and there is no doubt in this listener's mind that with this EP - 'Forecasts' - success is a foregone conclusion.
Pigeonholed in the ever broadening umbrella of 'Shoegaze', with comparisons to early Boo Radleys and Pale Saints it's important to not underestimate the potential broad appeal of their latest work. A cynic could write this release off as Muse covering the extended version of Paranoid Android and selling it on as their own, but brush off the frost (it is Christmas after all) and there's a monster in the ice just waiting for its chance to get out. It is true that Marcello Batellis' vocals do sound just a touch like an 'Absolution' –era Muse, but I've always felt that they were a Stadium rock Radiohead so there we go.
Cleverly, or in fact rather pointlessly the EP opens with the shipping/weather forecast spliced and fuzzed to make it seem like it's artistic in some way, curiously it does sound akin to the Stephen Hawkins track off 'OK Computer' so maybe there is more to the cynics view than meets the eye.
I digress, so track one 'At least since Monday' does sound initially like it could have been made by a teenager in his bedroom, but with a little patience and the injection of Batelli's ethereal vocals that build to an impressive, nay orgasmic crescendo of harmonic rock ecstasy it's over, but there's not long before 'Yesteryear' blows any remnants of cobwebs away with a driving pure rock riff fest. The hightempo rock, likened unto a later day Ash, that began the track was just the beginning as the band shows its true 'Space Rock' colours by going all My Chemical Romance (MCR) before disappearing into hyperspace to then pull another disappearing act.
Track 3 'Believe November slowly' is a short number that has little to recommend it except the ever present vocal gymnastics of the frontman as it stops and starts in a slightly irritating way before disappearing in a maelstrom of crashing cymbals.
Track 4 'Forecast#1:Why bother', the single taken from the release, with accompanying video, is the first in the final trio of tracks that appear to be a micro concept album, which is not surprising given the MCR vein that pulsates throughout this EP and the penchant of said band for concept albums ("The Black Parade" for one). In the fashion of the tracks that have come before, this the song builds to then break, before going headstrong with trademark rumbling percussion undertones and vocal wailings straight out of the Thom Yorke textbook into a crunching crescendo.
Track5 'Forecast #2,Send Me A Souvenir' is a whole new beast altogether that throws the rule book out the window, and as such is just one perfect slab of anthemic rock with its head amongst the stars and its feet firmly planted in the real world of heavy hooks, power chords and all out sing into your hairbrush euphoria.
This is continued in the final track and it's fair to say that this EP deserves and requires multiple plays. It's a work of art and through incredible band dynamics, song structures and an adept understanding of how to create stadium-sized tunes while remaining true to their 'Space-Rock' roots Planet Brain are fully deserving of greatness.