Search - Plumerai :: Without Number

Boston s Plumerai have been honing their alternative (PJ Harvey, Portishead), shoegazer (The Cure, The Cranes), & art-rock (Radiohead, Gogol Bordello) roots into their own take on pop music over the course of three years & three releases. Having found a secure line-up in 2006 of Elizabeth Ezell (vocals), Martin Newman (guitars), James Newman (bass), & Todd Richards (drums) Plumerai began work on new material & touring up & down the east coast. Without Number is the long awaited follow up to Plumerai s 2006 Res Cogitans EP. Bass player James Newman recorded the new album to properly capture their sound rather than be colored by another engineer or producer. Newman taking charge of the recording process allowed Plumerai to have more studio experimentation & embellishments with accordion, guzheng, & keyboards rather than staying within the guitar-bass-drums-vocal mold. The lyrical content of Without Number that may on the surface seem like simple love/loss songs are actually character studies & stories from other points of view portrayed with emotional accuracy by Ezell s sultry vocals. Lavinia is inspired by a Shakespeare play & Iris is a tribute to a lost friend. Ezell s great gift is being able to put serious matters within a singable & memorable pop context in the style pioneered by songwriters like Patti Smith & PJ Harvey. With Plumerai the guitar shimmers, the bass drives, the drums swing, & the vocals smoke until you feel the warmth of the fire.