Review Summary: Bedroom musician Plini puts out a mere 13 minute long EP, but it stands stout and delivers a strong and interesting performance.
Plini, an instrumental so-called "bedroom musician", released his first piece of music in 2012. "Moonflower" is the name of his first single. While being a good song itself, it's not really "Plini" in the sense of being instantly recogniseable, breezy "metal" that he's cherished for. Other Things, released in 2013, set the new standard of Plini, and laid the foundation of what Plini was to become in the future. What made his new music more interesting than "Moonflower" is the fact that it was a lot more diverse and experimental. I know it might be unfair to compare a two and a half minute song to a 13 minute EP, but I still feel that "Moonflower" followed the vein of other djenty musicians, while Other Things stood out as something unique in the stale world of progressive music.
If we look at the repertoire of Plini, he has put out only about 90 minutes of material in close to five years. While that may not seem like a lot, and it isn't that much either, but Plini has always prioritised quality over quantity, and that's why every single song he's thrown out there has been enjoyable.
"Other Things", 13 minutes and three songs, proves that bedrooms may be the perfect place to write creative and laid-back music. The EP is kind of split in two, where the first half (Heart and Other Things) focus more on his soothing, catchy side of songwriting. They change the pace and style of his music dramatically, and are very relaxing to listen to. "Heart" is a quite short, but very effective song. It blends soulful solos with fantastic riffs and acts as a perfect opener establishing that oh-so great airy music he plays. "Other Things" works in the same vein as "Heart" (no pun intended), but is more jazz-oriented, even featuring piano, giving it a distinctive smooth feel to it.
"Selenium Forest" on the other hand differs quite a lot from the first half of the EP. In a way it sounds like a rejuvenated and experimental Dream Theater song, just without the excess weight. Even though the intro is similar the two other songs, having that atmospheric touch to it, the majority of it shows Plini's metal side. The mystical nature of the track, combined wonderfully with a subtle keyboard undertone, creates a superb listening experience.
This EP is totally awesome, and you can get it for like 4 bucks on Plini's Bandcamp site. But yeah, the music, production and the general execution of the album makes me respect Plini a whole lot as a musician. His ability to be technically accomplished on the guitar, but not abuse his guitar and start wanking around like many prog acts is a huge plus in my book. Atmosphere/catchyness>technical wanking basically. Plini rules.
