PLOSIVS

Album review

Ever since the notion of the rock & roll supergroup became a thing in the 1960s with the rise of acts like Blind Faith and Crosby, Stills & Nash, most of them have been dogged by the same problem: how to navigate the tricky balance of egos and ideas that occurs when several people with the talent and imagination to be headliners have to share the stage. PLOSIVS is one such band, featuring several hotshots from the worlds of punk and indie rock -- John Reis of Rocket from the Crypt, Hot Snakes, and Drive Like Jehu; Rob Crow of Pinback; Atom Willard of RFTC, Against Me!, and the Offspring; and Jordan Clark of Mrs. Magician. On their self-titled debut album, PLOSIVS do a great job of giving the members their own space while allowing their contributions to overlap in satisfying ways. PLOSIVS began as a writing project between Reis and Crow, and the material reflects their mingled outlooks -- the propulsive guitars that chime and growl at once are right out of Reis' playbook, and the angular melodies and detourned pop hooks sound very much like Crow's work. This is smart punk with pop sensibilities, not pop-punk, and the difference is vital. Crow takes the lead vocals here, and Reis' occasional verbal interjections bring a touch of welcome grit to Crow's impassioned clarity. A good band needs a good rhythm section, and Willard and Clark are just that -- the former's drumming is tight and explosive without too much showboating, and the latter's caffeinated bass lines bridge the gap between the taut melodic shifts of the guitars and the orderly chaos of the drumming. If the album has a failing, it's that Crow's vocals tend to be low in the mix, so what he says is often overwhelmed by how he says it. In the context of the performances, there's enough soul baring in these tunes that such things matter. But what had the potential to be just another side project from musicians who (for the most part) already have plenty, turns out to be a good bit more satisfying: On PLOSIVS, these guys have learned to sound like a band, not folks who happen to play together, and this is an encouraging first salvo from a quartet with cool ideas and the skills to make something from them.

© Mark Deming /TiVo