''Plastic Death'' (stylized in

lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing system ...

) is the second studio album by Los Angeles

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band Glass Beach. It was released on January 19, 2024, by

Run for Cover Records Run for Cover Records is an American independent record label based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 2004 by Jeff Casazza at the age of 17 with a $1,000 loan, the label functioned as a small one-person bedroom operation in Brighton, until Casa ...

. The album sees the band move primarily into

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

, leaving behind the

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

of their debut album '' The First Glass Beach Album''. It was preceded by two singles, "The CIA" and "Rare Animal". Collaborators on the album include "secret fifth member" Daxe Schaeffer, Jer Hunter, and

mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

Will Yip William Yip ( Chinese: 葉浩仁; born February 18, 1987) is an American record producer, audio engineer, songwriter and musician. Yip is an owner of Studio 4 Recording in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Yip is also the owner of Memory Music, an indep ...

. The album was positively received by critics.

Release

After a series of teasers from the band and their label, Glass Beach released the album's lead single, "The CIA", on October 11, 2023. The song came with a music video directed by the band's drummer William White. The song was described as "almost

alt-rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

-radio-ready" but without "compromising their proggy, exploratory tendencies", "zany, shapeshifting

art pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theory, art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, film, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre dra ...

", and as existing "in a strange space, someplace where prog,

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

coalesce". The album was announced on November 6, 2023, set for release on January 19, 2024, by

. The announcement came with the second single, "Rare Animal". The song includes gang vocals from the full band and their "secret fifth member Daxe", which vocalist J McClendon likened to a

Greek chorus A Greek chorus () in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, is a homogeneous group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the action of the scene they appear in, or provide necessary insight into action which ...

Style

Though pulling from a variety of genres, ''Plastic Death'' is primarily considered a

album. Other genres include

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

, and

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

. The album notably leaves behind the

sound that defined '' The First Glass Beach Album''.

Reception

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' and ''Treble'' both named ''Plastic Death'' as their "album of the week" ahead of its release. ''Stereogum''s Chris DeVille called ''Plastic Death'' a "rare sophomore album feat" and "an entirely new phase of evolution for the band." ''Treble''s Jeff Terich wrote that the "beauty of a record with ''Plastic Death'' is that the restraint is always temporary; give them time to get there, and Glass Beach will prove just what kind of masterful bedlam they can stir up." Rachel Evangeline Chiong of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' described it as "a monolith of an album, narratively entwined front to back." ''

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...

'' reviewer Grant Sharples stated that "on paper, it may seem like an unfocused mess, but they execute everything with stylistic flair." '' Consequence''s Abby Jones called the album "a vivid, moving, yet realistic examination on the world at large". ''Flood''s Will Schube called the album's sound "tantalizing, a little scary, and wholly wondrous". Critics also praised the work of

Year-end lists

Track listing

Notes * Every song is stylized in all lowercase letters, except for "The CIA" which is stylized as "the CIA".

Personnel

Glass Beach

* J McClendon – lead vocals, guitar, piano, synthesizer,

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...

gang vocals Screaming is an extended vocal technique that is popular in "aggressive" music genres such as heavy metal, punk rock, and noise music. Screamed vocals are usually harsh, loud and aggressive, used to create an angry, emotional or intense tone. I ...

* Layne Smith – guitar, gang vocals,

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

(1) * Jonas Newhouse – bass, keyboard, synthesizer, gang vocals * William White – drums, gang vocals

Additional musicians

* Daxe Schaeffer – gang vocals * Jer Hunter – trumpet (2, 11), trombone (2, 11) * Tony Sanders – trumpet (1, 2), trombone (1) * Tommy Pedrini –

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

(1, 7) * Camille Faulkner – violin (9, 12)

Technical

–

* J McClendon –

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

s, additional art, packaging design * Rat Castle Recordings (McClendon and Smith) –

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

s * Chioko Yamasato – additional

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

(marimba recordings) * Daxe Schaeffer –

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of a ...

, additional art, packaging design

References

{{Authority control 2024 albums Glass Beach albums Run for Cover Records albums Progressive rock albums by American artists