People In Planes - As Far as the Eye Can See

I’m not usually one to pick up on a new song from hearing it on the radio or television. Not lately anyway. It’s not an elitist thing- I haven’t had a radio in my ‘vehicle’ for a while, where historically I’ve done most of my listening, and, I don’t watch a hell of a lot of tv. People in Planes broke new ground with me: I first heard them on a late night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live. They performed “If you talk to much (my head will explode),” and I was taken with both the song and the band’s performance, which I will describe as youthfully energetic and convincing. At least I was convinced, or curious, or just pretty tired and easily swayed. Fast forward a month or so, and I’m on my way to see them as part of an all-day rock ‘festival’ and I use the quotes because the occasion was a few steps short of festive. Backed up concert traffic caused me to miss their set (scheduled to play first, wouldn’t you know) and just about every other act I had come to see. Go figure. Unfortunately, waiting for hours on the interstate was the best part of the day, but that’s another story. Let’s just say that that the band I DIDN’T miss was Seether. Sigh. So I’ve spent some time with the album, As Far as the Eye can See, and it’s a pretty satisfying dose of music with a few creative twists and turns built around an otherwise straightforward approach to Brit rock. Laden with guitar effects, the sound is thick and crunchy. However, rather than peal out with blistering solos, People in Planes prefers to float into starry soundscapes and climb back out again. It’s rather nice actually. The lyrics are good enough- and this may be the waiting in traffic talking- sometimes while striving for Radiohead they come off more like Silverchair. When the words do catch up to the chords, a winner is in hand. [www.peopleinplanes.com]