Underneath the surface is an elusive call to find meaning within Glass Beach’s art, picking up more progressive rock sweeps that underscore the dimmer tonal shift. ‘plastic death’ and its methodical expansive pivot might not have its best execution, yet understanding its lyrical core amidst a barrage of striking melodies and liquid production makes an overall tough, yet rewarding album.
Glass Beach and their debut album in 2019 pops out an array of colors that you can’t quite label out from the get-go. From the dozen genre flourishes, melodic swivels that ramble and swivel within a song, J’s lyrical and vocal quirks that stick within internet-based melancholy and identity crises, and instrumental palette that tilts between the digital and the organic, the band’s first project hits sky high yet also misses inconsistently (mostly more on the mixing and mastering more than anything) that highlights how much intriguing creative flair the band can stuff into through that project alone. And now, with ‘Plastic Death’, the sophomore project that they have been working on in the wings for 5 years retains their strengths yet also diverts into something else entirely.
‘Plastic Death’ digs itself underground and pulls a lot more tones and melodic turnovers that immediately differ from glass beach’s debut project. The melodies owe themselves a lot to prog rock, a doubling down on their compositional strengths that allow a lot of the tracks to simmer and soar at every given turn as the band gives the structure a lot of melodic phases, lilting cooldowns, and sweeping transitions that build to stark climaxes. ‘Commatose’ and its almost 10-minute length offers a lot of buildup after buildup full of flashy guitar riffs, moody strings, and pulping percussion just before the pace slows down and ends with a bolting wall of glitch. Cuts like ‘motions’ and ‘cul-de-sac’ with their lively spark of energy offer similar build-ups that coalesce on a grand closing point, presenting how the band’s melodic expense continues to work effectively here. Amidst the flurry of guitars, synths, and drums, there are tender instrumental spots that bring a more distinct flavor to the project’s melodic centerpieces that are also helped out by the improved production that allows the mixing to be consistent and the tones to be clear-cut and polished. The strings on ‘200’ and ‘the killer’ allow these cuts to have a dramatic swell, the piano lines on ‘coelacanth’ and ‘abyss angel’ simmer them into a soothing space before they get cut open by the prog rock flash, and the xylophones popping up on ‘whalefall’ is a refreshing addition, especially with how the slow burn of the track crashes into these stomps of buzzy synths.
The prog rock flourishes and the dry polish of the production might show the instant shift of the record, yet as you dig deeper, you will notice how the tones from both instrumental tones and vocal performances make the project a bit tough to stick. On the debut project, there is a sense of cloudy murmurs within the instrumental space of that project that’s also conveyed through J’s vocals, leaping into their joyous highs or musing lows that even despite the shambling production, it still does at least create a distinction between each track. Yet this project offers a flip of that mood as J leans into a more dissociated vocal cadence throughout the record’s instrumental variance that still carries a fluid, albeit dilapidated tone all over, making the project feel distraught despite the wild melodic spurs. It is not an overall weakness as J’s vocals can get wrecked up in pieces, expressing a sense of desperation and anguish, even so much as giving raw shrieks on ‘slip under the door’ and ‘Motions’ or aching bawls on ‘the CIA’ and ‘200’ where the exhausting desperation is at its most clear.
And when it comes to the overall flair of the writing, it is the main factor where that tonal dimness starts to click. Shedding away from the vibrancy of the writing that they showcased on their debut, glass beach opts for an elusive abstraction that picks up a tenser scope of what the band is trying to tell. And elusive indeed, as the lyrical notes surrounding underwater - like those marine species that are unknown, which makes them rather terrifying when seen on the surface - make the project harder to analyze. Yet, as the first track alone includes an intro speech discussing art that will be removed or artists that choose to become hidden alongside the mayfly iconography that acts as a metaphor for brief, fleeting lives, the pieces eventually start to come together. Essentially, this project is all about glass beach and the art that they create, wherein with the success that they have garnered over the past few years, they wonder about where their art will eventually end up as they start thinking deeply about the consumption of art and the audience that picks up their artistic works. It’s no wonder why the tone of the project carries this distraught feel to it because there is something fractured about the band dealing with how people will pick up and perceive their art as they are quite shaken with satisfying an audience that might not get who they are and will leave the band to become nothing but a husk of who they once were. But, within that success, they might also have to get back to them even if their queerness and their musicality will be commodified for their audience’s satisfaction, especially in the age of modern internet society where it’s so easy to dissect artists’ authentic potentials and make their careers to stoop low into chasing easy success than create engaging art. It’s a frustrating emotion for the band, especially when there are so many music enthusiasts who are only willing to listen on the surface, but do not do enough to dive deeper and find what the band is ultimately about and what they represent for themselves.
While the lyrical detail allows the emotional nuance to click, it doesn’t mean that the overall execution lands that well, especially when despite the flashy marvel of these prog-rock progressions, some melodic compositions in certain songs as well as some of J’s numbed performances do not allow the project to shine all the way. Yet, the impactful quality is still there in spades, where the band is willing to go deeper and land on a fascinating emotional and intellectual essence amidst improved production and legitimately engrossing songs with striking climaxes. Underneath the surface is a light that shines from moment to moment, one that will illuminate its stark clarity once you’re willing to dive deeper into the underwater abyss, and find what glass beach is asking for in their sophomore project.
Favorite Tracks: ‘coelacanth’, ‘motions’, ‘cul-de-sac’, ‘the killer’, ‘the CIA’, ‘commatose’, ‘abyss angel’
Least Favorite Track: ‘guitar song’