Plants And Animals — With/Avec EP

As the latest addition to indie wunder-label Secret City, Montreal trio Plants And Animals have gotta be feeling the pressure to succeed. Polaris Music Prize nominees (and a winner) already abound for the nascent Montreal indie imprint and it seems they've struck proverbial gold once again. Plants And Animals play lo-fi, at times melancholic but richly textured folk-inflected post-rock that teeters on the edge of reason. Standout "Trials & Tribulations," a gently strummed guitar and repetitive piano concoction, moves effortlessly as guitarist Warren C. Spicer decries, "Trials and tribulations/Discoveries and allegations/No sentiment will ever come of this" in a hushed but strained timbre. Their frenetic cover of "Sinner Man" serves as a whiplash-inducing bookend to the all too short four-song EP. If their full-length is anywhere near the quality of With/Avec, then look for yet another Secret City band on next year's Polaris short list.

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