BRIGHT BLACK
“This is raw, whimsical, upbeat and full of spunk … may cause goosebumps in the same way as when you first heard the Bauhaus cracker ‘Lagartija Nick’”.
- Amplify Music Magazine
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London Plane
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London Plane
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London Plane
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London Plane
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London Plane
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Homocosmicus
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London Plane
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London Plane
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London Plane
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London Plane
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London Plane
NEW YORK HOWL
by L O N D O N P L A N E
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LONDON PLANE
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LONDON PLANE
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LONDON PLANE
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LONDON PLANE
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LONDON PLANE
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LONDON PLANE
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LONDON PLANE
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LONDON PLANE
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LONDON PLANE
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LONDON PLANE
T H E Y S A Y
“Bright Black is bursting with the earnest romance of Gothic poetry tinged with the ennui of 21st-century
dystopia.”
“Exciting post-punk replete with scything, mountainous guitars and a thunderous, pounding, insistent rhythm that sets the pulse racing.”
“Something of Bowie running through the proceedings which blend a strange pre-punk accessibility and a post-punk chill into an alternative dance song par excellence.”
“A gutsy slab of avante pop that you won’t soon forget...a band that has bright things in store for it, even if the music is deliciously dark.”
“(They) build punchy and elegant pop songs, awash with the specter of Bowie and his disciples – Echo and The Bunnymen, Peter Murphy, Siouxsie Sioux – while also nodding to the sound of 1960’s Ronnie Spector.”
“Roxanne offers the sweetest of subtle new wave fog, seducing the senses with hints of post-punk vocal charm and early 2000’s scenester cred.”
“Rumbling, viscerally noirish, and garnished with glimmering switchblade guitars and driving percussion, Bright Black clambers through the darkest of tunnels and into the light.”
“London Plane are on my list as leading the pack of rock bands who comment on the human condition.”
“These songs are all tight, energy-packed and full of venom and fire. Forty full minutes pass by and you always want to know what’s around the corner. There are no detours into unwieldy narrative, or else, self-indulgent solos and noodling. These tales are short, sharp and barbed.”
“Combines the wall-of-sound of Phil Spector and the Ronettes with the sultry edginess of the Psychedelic Furs at one level and Siouxsie and the Banshees at another.”
“ Dark arrangements complement the sophisticated and warm vocals of lead singer, CiCi James.”
“London Plane reaches new depths of goth pop. With rock undertones and electropop vibes, this 6-piece outfit shoots for the moon and lassos it twice.”
“London Plane’s “New York Howl” is a love song for fhe dark urban jungle.”
“From the pulsing title track, to the bustling Cloud Light, and the brooding Make It On Our Own, the songs themselves reverberate the themes of Francis’ diary.”
“There is an expansive and powerful feel to ‘New York Howl’ right from the beginning. The six piece band provide a tight and cohesive sound behind the soaring and melodic vocals, all done with a sense of drama and anticipation.”
W A T C H I T
it started with a suitcase left on a sidewalk...
If you die in New York City and no one remains to collect your things, the cleaners cart the contents of your apartment down to the street for the garbage collectors. There, the objects that made up your life are left to the whims of New York City dwellers before they are carted off to a dump somewhere on Staten Island. You know the scene when you see it: a chest of drawers ravished by curious passersby. File cabinets rifled through without the least shame. Who knows? There could be something in there. This time it was a suitcase that sang the siren’s song.
It was cloth-covered – simple, clean. Inside, amongst books and broken records, David found the diary. Her name, inscribed on the front cover, was Francis, spelled the masculine way. Her first entry was dated June 12, 1975, and began, So I made it to New York.
The entries continued daily, then monthly, then every year or two, according to intermittent attention. Then, in 1982 after a flurry of successive entries, the words came to an abrupt end. Her last words: I hope he gets it.
In these pages – in glimpses of scenes, starts and stops of poetry, dreams half-recounted – was the story of a young woman from Portland, Oregon, new to the city, who was looking, forever watching. Struck by the contrast of her prescient internal life to her harsh reality, David (London Plane’s principal songwriter) began to dream about Francis himself. She seemed to have only just left the room he entered, to be seated in the train he just missed, to be walking in the street ahead, just visible and then gone. Lyrics and music soon appeared to accompany the stories in his mind. After this obsession yielded half a dozen songs, David went looking for his own Francis – someone to become the ghost he’d imagined into being.
Cici always had a thing for ghosts. Once introduced to the diary, the Francis on the page and the Francis of the mind made perfect sense to her. Of course she wanted to play the part. Of course she wanted to sing the songs. And ever since, Cici has been David’s Francis.
The songs themselves reverberate the themes of Francis’ diary - isolation and emanation, fear and bravery, regret and redemption. Taking this cue, London Plane (named for New York City’s ghostly, resilient hybrid street tree) forms music which might at one moment seem shatterable and the next electrified, possessed. London Plane’s songs don’t ignore the danger on the other side of the door, but they also don’t let it stop their ascension into reverie.
S H O W S
FEBRUARY 21ST 2024 TV EYE 1647 WEIRFIELD STREET, RIDGEWOOD QUEENS NEW YORK