Still House Plants, concert

In the urge to explain and illustrate, Still House Plants’ latest record has conjured a vast collection of creative one-liners. And, to be frank, it might take you some acrobatics to honorably capture what’s going on in the mazes of If I Don’t Make It, I Love U. Jenn Pelly of Pitchfork has described the trio’s fractured math-rocky sounds as “made of nerve endings''. And Rate Your Music user 1dollar44 has envisioned the album as if performed in “zero gravity”. Taking that final figure of speech a tad further; within that Zero-G chamber, elements swirl, bounce off one another and merge as colliding pieces of goo. At times, the effect is spiky and angular. At others, pure bliss. In the rough-and-tumble lies a friction that got us totally clawed, hooked and gripped. We will host the spellbinding trio for two concerts on a Sunday in the epilogue of this summer. The first in the afternoon, the second at night, both at the equally warm-yet-harsh Salon de IJzerstaven. We’d love to welcome you there.

Line-up:

Finlay Clark - electric guitar

Jess Hickie-Kallenbach - vocals

David Kennedy - drums

Still House Plants are a UK group made up of Jess Hickie-Kallenbach, Finlay Clark, and David Kennedy.

From a bare bones set up of guitar, drums and vocals they create fractious and sharp music with a melting pop heart. bridging elements of sampling, slow core, and repetition the trio have developed a sound that constantly breaks apart and fuses together again.

‘If I don't make it, I love u’ is Still House Plants’ third LP and the fullest embodiment of their

sound to date. Where ‘Fast Edit’ formed with quick attachment and jump cuts, ‘If I don't make it’

is shaped by persistence - a commitment to the songs that makes the music solid, warmer and

accepted.

Marking the trio’s decade of friendship, this is the first record written whilst all live in the same

city since 2017's ‘Assemblages’. The band rehearsed it relentlessly, playing for nobody except

themselves, consistently building support for one another and growing the way they play. Jess’ voice is deeper. Fin’s guitar is full size, richer. David drums harder. Focused on one point

together, everyone gets bigger and nothing falls apart. The guitar and the drums blend, raise the

voice, make room for what is being said, what is felt.

When able to finally record, production allowed layers, gave elasticity, a chance to fully stretch.

Playing with length and connections, the band brought in analogue techniques - a Lesley

cabinet on ‘Headlight’, sidechaining the snare with the guitar, pushing vocals through cheap DJ

software - each process an attempt to bring one instrument closer to another, to give bass, body, backup.

‘If I don't make it, I love u’ seeks beauty, holds feeling maximum and builds surety with its sound. The most generous SHP record to date, the music is wide open, demands less. Play it again, it will come clear.