Gold stars all around

After nearly five years, emo band glass beach is releasing their second studio album plastic death on January 19th.

The album begins with “coelacanth” which features beautiful vocals and a fantastic piano melody, both done by J McClendon. The drums enter a prominent role later in the song, played by William White. 

While “coelacanth” is very piano heavy, the next song on the album “motions” is very drum centric. The vocals stand out in this track and once the trumpets enter the song near the end of its runtime, glass beach truly captures a wonderful sound.

“slip under the door,” with its heavy emo vocals and hard instrumentals makes for a distinct song. One of the things this album has going for it is that it feels cohesive, but not repetitive, with every song bringing something new and wonderful into the fray.

The songs “rare animal,” along with “the CIA,” were released as singles before the album’s official release. “rare animal” is about a girl, the “gold star” of the track, whom the performer is thinking about. The lyrics are felt and McClendon’s vocals with this lighter instrumental makes this just one of the songs on plastic death that will have listeners feel like they’re levitating.

“the CIA” has an entirely different vibe. The chorus is genuinely fantastic, repeating that the narrator is “always terrified” and asking “is your surveillance tenderness?” The music video for this song reinforces the surveillance aspect of the lyrics, but the music itself picks up this feeling of fear toward the latter half of the track with amazing sounds.

“the killer” is another standout song on this album, transitioning straight from “puppy,” but introducing horror elements to the mix which changes the vibe entirely. Layne Smith’s guitar is fantastic and the added violin makes for a gorgeous sound.

The album’s longest track is the penultimate song on the project, “commatose,” which nearly reaches the 10-minute mark. It is one of the most heartfelt songs on the album, until it switches from soft to intense in the last few minutes of the track. The guitar goes crazy, as do the drums and the bass, creating a fast-paced masterpiece before dissolving into chaos. This song really encapsulates everything to love about plastic death.

The range from every single member of the band is truly wild and the sounds they are able to create on this project are beautiful. Once again, glass beach has captured lightning in a bottle.