Formerly named after their mop-headed lead singer STEPHEN EVANS, Manchester eccentrics THE PLANETS, having shortened their name, are spending the next 12 months combining live shows with recording sessions in a bid to showcase their extensive collection of surreal and compulsive pop songs. Echoing the likes of THE WEDDING PRESENT before them, they are releasing an EP every month for a year-long period.
Delicate and melodic, EP#2 drives home the band’s fundamental character. THE PLANETS are capable of carefully orchestrated moments of fragile beauty - yet at the same time, their delivery can be caustic and uncompromising.
Cinema influences play their part as inspiration sees Evans’ already fertile imagination running wild through the downbeat charm of the gorgeous ‘Gene and Vincent’, a twisted Tarantino slice of empathy that clings delightfully to vintage pop traditions. There’s a dark side though; consumerism is just one target for the vicious, sardonic vocal attacks that Stephen Evans carries out with psychotic vitriol, his razor sharp voice slicing clean through the melody
The lurch and stomp of the relentless 100mph tempo sends ‘Then He Snaps’ over the edge like a cattle stampede of lemmings destined to land psychological side up. It’s one of the few Planets songs that’s cranked up to this extent, the vocals partially drowned by the chaotic din.
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‘Mondays’ is snare-fuelled pop perfection. Wry, catchy and out to make a heady connection with the soul, the track serves as the sound of the band playing to their strengths undeterred. Eccentric to the core, unashamed riffing and sudden changes in the tempo send the song swerving almost to the edge of reason.
Elsewhere, alarm clock guitar licks heighten the tension of ‘In Loving Arms’, a revolving door love song that stumbles and trips all the way to the dizzy heights of the huge chorus
The acoustic offering is a downbeat jazz version of the painfully honest and world-weary gem ‘Dirty Girl’, which does a slow motion jive as it trawls the mind for sleaze.
Superb throughout, this incisive and honest record is big-screen sardonic as well as highly addictive –one that makes for compelling, compulsive listening.
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