This week I listened to Predicts the Future by Plumtree. As with many such cases, Plumtree has always been one of those bands that I have been tangentially aware of. I was a huge fan of the Scott Pilgrim comics circa 8 or 9 years ago and Plumtree's song "Scott Pilgrim" which was the inspiration behind the name of the character was on the soundtrack for the film adaptation. I always liked that song but like other bands whose music I only knew through soundtracks I wouldn't end up exploring their music until much later. I've been in a period of reflection when it comes to music as of late and Plumtree came back to my mind suddenly, so I decided I should finally give them a proper listen. I have to say the album comes as a bit of a surprise to me. The song "Scott Pilgrim" is this huge rocking track with this massive sounding riff behind it, and I expected a lot more of that. While the album still has its rocking moments, it also has a lot of pop and indie elements to its overall sound. It can even sound quite pretty at times, with songs like "I Love When You're Walking Away" and "Going So Low" being these quiet, ballad-like songs that provide a nice brevity from the rest of the album. This is a fantastic sounding album, featuring some fantastic sounding guitar tones. The distorted guitars sound thick and chunky and the clean guitars are so sparkly. I especially love the lead guitar tones on this album, so smooth and buttery which fits the playing perfectly. The album sits in that sweet spot of production I talk so much about where it doesn't sound overproduced and clean but it isn't super low fidelity. It does lean on the cleaner side of production which I think is a good thing for this style of music, but that grit still there really helps to showcase the energy the band has. The album opener "Go!" is a perfect example of this energy. I imagine Plumtree were an awesome band to see love, but since they no longer exist I can happily settle for this album 8.5/10
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