Plumerai- Plumerai

Plumerai, the new 8-song self-titled release from the Boston-based alt rock/shoegazer trio, blends bass grooves, melodic synth organ/strings/piano, processed ethereal lead guitar, real and programmed percussion, and female vocals into a bass-driven, moody rock package. Complete with noteworthy and appropriate semi-Cure-esque artwork, the band's proper debut is, while a bit on the short side, a fairly well written, performed, and produced effort that combines trip-hop, post-punk, shoegazer, and ethereal influences.

The disc's top tracks include the killer trip-hop bass groove, organ, and tremolo guitar of the memorable "Modern Desire" and the wobbly organ and ethereal cascading guitar arpeggios of the airier "My Demise". The opening "Broken" blends a moody organ-accented verse carried by ethereal guitars with a more upbeat chorus highlighted by a killer reverb-drenched sliding guitar backdrop. While the chorus of "Inside Outside" perhaps hits a bit too close to Garbage's "Milk" for comfort, it's a solid track overall. "Intangible" settles into a comfortable bass pattern carried by processed, almost synth-esque guitar. "Inkracer" and "Ether" are somewhat darker piano-accented offerings, the latter being more rock-oriented, while the closing "Plastic Heart" is the disc's most upbeat as well as its shortest.

While, perhaps, slightly lacking in memorable melodic passages when broken into individual tracks, as a whole, Plumerai is a lovely album rife with personality. Shoegazer, moody rock, and trip-hop fans will likely find the band's debut to be a fairly impressive and worthwhile 34-minute foray into bass-driven ethereal rock.