A Review by The Phantom Tollbooth


For Beginner Piano Artist: Plone Label: Warp Records/Matador Records Tracks: 10	Marbles (sample) BibiPlone (sample)

When I was a kid, my brother and I would go to sleep at night while listening to this old record called Switched On Bach, a collection of Bach tunes played on old Moog keyboards. I can't explain it, but I was fascinated by the odd warblings and fluttering sounds emanating from that old stereo, and I insisted on listening to it every night while falling asleep.

Plone's debut reminds me of lying awake at night, captivated by those vintage sounds that seemed so strange, and yet so comforting. Unlike some groups which use vintage keyboards as a garnish, or others which use them for parody or kitsch value, Plone writes actual songs with, what I assume, is probably the biggest collection of analog synths on the planet. And they keep their songs short and to the point. Unlike some electronic groups which try to expand on musical ideas that just get tired and boring, the songs on "For Beginner Piano" remain delightfully short. Brevity being the soul of wit, and all that. Thankfully, they even keep the use of the vocoder to a minimum, only intoning silly rhymes like "Every day/come out and play/come out for me/sit in a tree" ("Plock.")

It's not easy for a band to create music that sounds so sugary sweet and precocious, and yet still remain charming and enjoyable. It's odd that the weakest material on here is the stuff where Plone gets "deep." On "Busy Working," they emulate a trip-hop feel and on "The Greek Alphabet," they sound like an obscure Italian or French soundtrack if done by the Moog Cookbook (rather than said group's normal fare of 90s grunge and 70s stadium rock). But there's still something enchanting about it, especially on the closing "Summer Plays Out" where Plone takes their playfulness and injects a delicate, orchestral feel not unlike the final moments when a music box starts to wind down.

The album's best moments are definitely in its most whimsical, playful moods, where Moogs and vintage keyboards bubble and froth over hopscotch beats and rhythms that seem to be channeled straight out of an Apple IIGS. Plone attempts to create what they call "timeless electronic melodies," which sounds pretty lofty and egotistic. But on tracks like "Marbles" (which sounds like the theme for "Tron" if it had been directed by Hayao Miyazaki), or "BibiPlone" (which could be theme music from a Pokemon
carchase), they come pretty close to doing just that.

Jason Morehead 12/11/99

Jason Morehead is also the publisher of Opuszine, a webzine devoted to independent music and cult cinema. All of his reviews can also be found at http://www.opuszine.com.