Plants and Animals

Review in Les Inrocks for The End of That

« De Wilco aux longues digressions du rock des seventies en passant par les plates-bandes d’Arcade Fire ici joyeusement piétinées, les amalgames indiffèrent vite, car Plants And Animals parvient à un épanouissement dans le classicisme rock qui n’appartient qu’à lui. »

"The End of That" out in France April 3rd

Just in time for spring, Plants and Animals are thrilled to be releasing their latest album, "The End of That" in France on April 3rd via Secret City. The band will be headed to France to support the release on a headlining tour. Support acts include Half Moon Run, Marie-Pierre Arthur and Rich Aucoin. Following their hugely successful show in July 2012 at Nouveau Casino in Paris, Plants and Animals blew away the French delegation at last year’s FME. Notable outlet Libération heralded their set, stating that Plants and Animals "won the medal" for the best performance at the festival. And this month’s issue of Rolling Stone France has a full page dedicated to the band. Upcoming complete tour dates: 02/07/12 Waterloo, ON || Starlight Social Club 02/08/13 Hamilton, ON || This Ain't Hollywood 02/09/13 London, ON || Call The Office 02/15/13 Wakefield, ON || Black Sheep Inn 02/16/13 Ottawa, ON || Ritual 03/28/12 Saint-Jean sur Richelieu, QC || Cabaret-Théâtre du Vieux Saint-Jean 03/29/13 Québec, QC || Théâtre du Petit Champlain 03/30/13 Terrebonne, QC || Moulin Neuf 04/19/13 Paris, France || La Défense Festival * 04/20/13 Laval, France || 6 par 4 *# 04/22/13 Tourcoing Lille, France || Le Grand Mix * 04/26/13 Nantes, France || Stereolux *& 04/29/13 Toulouse, France || La Dynamo 04/30/13 Orléans, France || L'Astrolab 05/02/13 Paris, France || Point Éphémère 05/16/13 Saint-Hyacinthe, QC || Le Zaricot 05/30/13 Val-David, QC || Mouton Noir 05/31/13 Magog, QC || Vieux-Clocher de Magog 06/01/13 Lavaltrie, QC || Chasse Galerie * with Half Moon Run # with Marie-Pierre Arthur & with Rich Aucoin

Plants and Animals destroy FME

Photo credit: Christian Leduc France's Next-Liberation from France called Plants and Animals the highlight of FME...

Bande à part : Plants and Animals underground performance at the FME

Le band s'installe, et la réverbération est vraiment pas si pire que ça mon pit. Elle est, en fait, appréciable et appropriée, enrobant adroitement, ajoutant de l'éther aux envolées indie qui s'immiscent souvent dans le rock sentimental du groupe. Tout le monde a le même costume, tasse-toi Village People.

Plants and Animals announce fall tour, share Malajube cover

Plants and Animals have announced their fall tour schedule that focuses heavily on tour dates across Canada. They also today released a cover of Malajube’s “Etienne D’aout” which was recorded live at Pop Montreal in 2011. The cover is taken from the same “Live at Breakglass” performance that yielded their cover of Wolf Parade’s ”I’ll Believe in Anything” earlier this year. Plants and Animals have a couple more festival stops on their itinerary before the end of August, including appearances at Squamish in BC and FME in Rouyn-Noranda. The band plays a handful of shows in Canada in the US through September and October before starting the bulk of the Canadian tour on Halloween in Victoria. Full details after the jump.

Osheaga baby!

We know you are all heading down to Parc Jean-Drapeau for Osheaga this weekend, so make sure you don't miss Plants and Animals on Saturday August 4th playing at 3:45PM on the River stage presented by Virgin Mobile!

Plants and Animals release animated video, kick-off summer tour

Plants and Animals kick-off their summer schedule in earnest tomorrow starting with a big free outdoor show in Toronto at Yonge and Dundas Square as part of the annual NXNE Festival. To mark the start of their summer tour they’ve released a video for the short-but-sweet “H.C.” from The End of That, released in February this year. In this animated short/music video, director Aimée van Drimmelen employs hand drawn imagery and looped Super 8 footage. Click here to watch the video. Plants and Animals will be hitting a few select festivals in Canada this summer, including repping their native Montreal at Osheaga in August, as well as appearances at Squamish in BC, the Ottawa Blues Fest, and more. They’ll also follow up their NXNE set with an appearance at Montreal’s Folk Fest on the Canal this coming Saturday. In addition to select Canadian dates the band will also return to the US for a brief stint in the northeast supporting Bombay Bicycle Club. Full details after the jump:

Plants and Animals announce additional tour dates with Bombay Bicycle Club

Hell-bent on conquering the US, the never road-weary Plants and Animals have added more dates to an already busy tour schedule in support of their new album, The End of That. The band will support Bombay Bicycle Club for a week on the East Coast in late July prior to their hometown performance at Montreal’s Osheaga Festival. Their US tour kicked off in March with a whirlwind, successful week at SXSW, where the band commanded several packed houses, from dive bars on 6th street to the quiet confines of St. David’s Historic Sanctuary, proving Plants and Animals have the chops to win over any audience, no matter what the setting. The band plays sold-out shows in New York tonight at Mercury Lounge, and in Toronto on Saturday at Lee’s Palace.

Plants and Animals release new video for "The End of That"

Earlier today, NPR Music premiered a brand new video from Plants and Animals for “The End of That”, the title track from the band’s recently released third album.

Quick Before It Melts Review for The End of That

You know what else sounds sexier than malware? The new Plants and Animals album, The End of That.

The Ontarion review for The End of That

As one might expect from any band’s third album, Montreal indie outfit Plants and Animals’ latest offering, The End of That, is of a more mature sound than its predecessors.

Interview with Spill Magazine

Back on September 24, 2011, Plants and Animals played an intimate show in the live room at the Breakglass studio in Montreal. The show was part of the Pop Montreal festival, which the band first played at a few years ago when touring for the album Parc Avenue.

Interview with Quartier Libre

Le son de ce troisième album est épuré, moins dense que les deux précédents. Il comporte encore un peu d’expérimentation sonore, mais également beaucoup de compositions acoustiques sans artifice.

Interview with Parisian blog Pinkushion

The End of That pourrait finalement faire écho à une autre célèbre trilogie, celle western du maestro Sergio Leone, autre obsédé d’Americana. Après tout, il s’agit toujours de la même histoire, celle de l’homme confronté à une époque qui se termine.

Voir review for The End of That

The End of That a un coeur, une âme et une poigne.

Plants and Animals kick off tour!

Plants and Animals kick of their long North American spring tour tonight in Ottawa, in support of their new album The End of That. They continue to Quebec City and then a sold-out hometown show in Montreal on Saturday, before heading to Austin Texas for South by Southwest, where they'll take part in Secret City's official showcase. The tour then resumes on Canada's West Coast and will see the band criss cross both countries through April. Full tour dates are below, with ticket information and and other details available at plantsandanimals.ca:

Paste premieres Lightshow music video

To celebrate yesterday's release of The End of That, Paste is premiering the new official music video for Lightshow. The video is a collaboration between producer Doug Karr and director Mitchell Hart who work on visual media together in New York. Hart explains the video as a commentary on contemporary media consumption: "There's so much information coming at us at any given moment ... as a result we're moving further away from appreciating the specifics of any given piece of media." Hart used the actual multi-track recordings to generate large data sets based on the audio files. Each track was analyzed through a series of code snippets and plugins to get what you see on screen. "A true combination of data visualization and cinematic production make this video unique."

Nigthlife interview

Local indie rockers Plants and Animals take a new, candid approach for their latest album

4 out of 5 stars on emusic!

The exuberance in the musicianship has never been more tangible, but the real benefit is Spicer’s more detailed lyrics, which accompany the band’s bark with a salty lick. You can hear it in the affable title track, which contains the punch line, “Like some fucked-up bumblebee/ Headed for the potpourri of the ladies room” and in marathoner “Crisis!” which laments the existential nightmare of too many strollers on the sidewalks. There goes any chance of landing that Kid’s Choice Award.

Interview with The National Post

The End of That, the new album by Plants & Animals, brims with the kind of rock ’n’ roll character that’s usually seen as the byproduct of hard living and late-night gigs in dingy bars. It’s there in frontman Warren Spicer’s bourbon-and-ashtray vocals, in electric guitarist Nic Basque’s smoke-belching riffs, in drummer Matt Woodley’s swaggering grooves. But the members of the Montreal trio themselves point to an unlikelier source of inspiration: the study of avant-garde composition.

Interview with Midnight Poutine

Every band hopes for a time in their career when they can record an album in a 19th-century stone mansion in the French countryside, and for Plants and Animals, this was their time. The band spent about two weeks in La Frette Studios outside of Paris working with engineer Lionel Darenne.

The End of That is out today!

Today marks the North American release of Plants and Animals new album, The End of That. The Montreal Gazette just bestowed a 4.5/5 star review and called the album “their best,” which is saying a lot considering the stellar work that’s come before, including their debut, Parc Avenue, that Secret City released four years ago almost to the day. The album is available in CD, LP and MP3 formats, from iTunes (Canada and USA), Amazon (.ca and .com) and as always, directly from us. Bonus tracks are available via iTunes, as well as with the free MP3 download card that accompanies the LP edition.

The Gazette interview

During a recent Gazette interview at the home of multi-instrumentalist and singer Warren Spicer, the three group members – Spicer, drummer Matthew Woodley and lead guitarist Nicolas Basque – settled in to connect the dots on how a complaint from the man next door unlocked a way to complete the album.

The Gazette 4.5 stars review

On its third - and best - album, the group has not exactly abandoned its need to stretch out. You can hear it in the Blue Jay Way drone of the song 2010, which opens Side B (even the CD is, on paper, divided into two sides) and in the album closer, Runaways, a stormy, bombastic piece that atypically eschews melody in favour of atmosphere but still sounds compelling. With its sense of invention, dynamics that keep things interesting throughout and a refreshing knack for songcraft, The End of That is the most optimistic of new beginnings.

Interview with Sors-Tu.ca

Prendre le thé dans la cuisine de Nic du groupe montréalais Plants & Animals: quoi de mieux comme circonstance pour discuter du 3e album de la formation, The End Of That, disponible dès le 28 février 2012.

La Presse interview

Plants and Animals a terminé la tournée de son album La La Land à l'automne 2010. De retour à Montréal, le trio a emprunté le studio Treatment Room, considéré comme le «petit frère» de l'Hotel2Tango. «On s'est installé avec des micros en pratiquant des tounes trois heures par jour, raconte Nicolas Basque. Le but était d'explorer des idées et de les expérimenter. Mais rien n'avait d'importance, car il n'y avait pas de date d'échéance. Ça permettait à Warren de prendre le temps d'écrire ses textes.»

Hour cover story - Plants and Animals

Plants and Animals are featured on the cover of the Hour this week, to highlight the release of The End of That happening on February 28. To read the cover story, click here. You can also listen to the entire album on Paste's website this week. Make sure you catch their album-launch show happening at Cabaret du Mile-End on March 10. PLANTS AND ANIMALS OPENING ACT: THUS:OWLS SATURDAY MARCH 10, 2012 CABARET DU MILE END 5240 Avenue Du Parc DOORS 8PM SHOW 9PM Tickets : 17$ || Click here to buy

Spin premieres Plants and Animals' "Song for Love"

Over the years, Plants and Animals' knuckle-balling blend of indie rock has been a vibrant, constantly rewarding reminder of their hometown's mid-aughties moment. "Song for Love," a crispy, straight-to-tape monster from forthcoming full-length The End of That...provides yet another slice of proof.

PLANTS AND ANIMALS ANNOUNCE TOUR, LIGHTSHOW 7”, & SHARE COVER OF WOLF PARADE’S “I’LL BELIEVE IN ANYTHING”

Secret City is pleased to announce that a new 7" for Plants and Animals Lightshow, their first single off of The End of That, due out February 28th. The 7” will be available in stores on the same day as the CD/LP, and features a live cover of Wolf Parade’s I’ll Believe in Anything on the B-side. A digital version of the 7" is available as of today via iTunes!. The live cover comes from the band’s “Live at Breakglass” performance during Pop Montreal in September of last year. The renowned Montreal studio hosted a combined live recording / intimate concert event as part of the tenth anniversary of the festival. Plants and Animals celebrated the milestone by covering local Montreal acts in addition to performing their own material. You can watch the actual performance below. The band has also announce a ton of new tour dates in support of the album:

Nylon Mag on Lightshow

equal parts scuzzy overlays, yearning vocals, and choppy guitar riffs. It's the kind of song that makes me want to go camping, only so I can sing it around the campfire.

Quick Before it Melts on 'Lightshow'

The more I listen to “Lightshow” the more I am seduced by its anthemic nature, its joie de vivre...I have myself the first song of 2012 that I will most definitely be including on the to-be-annual year end compilation

Magnet on Lightshow

The track starts off with a foot-tapping electric-guitar riff and continues that same joyous, melodic sound until the end of the song, showing off the band’s maturity and joie de vivre.

MTV Hive on "Lightshow"

Clocking in at a lean three and a half minutes, “Lightshow” is neither stripped-down or overblown — instead, it’s a perfect example of rock ‘n’ roll precision. “Lightshow” is that sort of big-time, anthemic rock song that says what it has to say in a half-dozen ways, and as hard as it may try, never goes out of style.

Consequence of Sound - Lightshow

Punching into the Canadian band’s strolling folk rock are these warm, tall sips of guitar solos. They sound as if they’re conjured from the shag-carpet of an old 70′s studio — it’s palpable as shit. To that end, the folky elements aren’t shellacked together, and individual musicianship reverberates all through the track.

"Lightshow" - KUT's Song of the Day

They’re proggy without being self-indulgent. They’re folky without being boring. They’ve got enough pop chops to keep even the most casual music fan’s ears glued to the stereo. ... On “Lightshow” Spicer sings like a man standing at a great precipice, staring down into the wet, gaping maw of indecision. His vocals are tender and vulnerable ... Contrasting Spicer’s vocal impasse is a big, sure-footed rhythm and strutting guitars. The discordant solo echoes fellow Canadian Neil Young’s fret work. It’s a song that is made great by its emotional complexity from a band that is great for being everything it’s not.

Plants and Animals announce The End of That

Plants and Animals have announced their third full length album, entitled, The End of That. The record sees the Montreal trio of Warren C. Spicer, Nic Basque and Matthew Woodman Woodley bridging the gap between their 2008 debut, Parc Avenue, and 2010’s darker La La Land. Check out the first single from the album, Lightshow. Plants and Animals - Lightshow by SecretCityRecords A North American tour was announced recently to support the new release, here are the upcoming dates, more to come: 12/07/11 Brooklyn, NY || The Rock Shop w/ Takka Takka, Balene 01/12/12 Chicago, IL || Schuba's w/ Herman Dune (Tomorrow Never Knows Festival) 03/08/12 Ottawa, ON || Ritual Nightclub 03/09/12 Quebec City, QC || Le Cercle 03/10/12 Montreal, QC || Cabaret du Mile-End 03/21/12 Vancouver, BC || Rickshaw 03/22/12 Seattle, WA || The Crocodile 03/24/12 Portland, OR || Mississippi Studios 03/27/12 Edmonton, AB || Starlite Room 03/28/12 Calgary, AB || Republik 03/29/12 Saskatoon, SK || Amigo's 03/30/12 Winnipeg, MB || West End Cultural Centre 03/31/12 Minneapolis, MN || 7th St. Entry

Midnight Poutine reviews Plants and Animals at Pop Montreal - Live at Breakglass

Both these bands have the sound and the talent to make a live show spectacular, but there are sometimes elements out of their control that can take that away. And certainly, when it comes to Pop Montréal, Plants and Animals have the upper hand.

Montreall Gazette reviews "Live from Breaklgass" Pop Montreal performance

Perhaps better than any band in town, Plants and Animals have an amazing ability to embrace the infinite possibilities of a song, bringing each one to vivid life and taking us along for the ride.

Plants and Animals - Blogotheque Soiree de poche

Les trois canadiens ont débarqué les bras chargés de quelques guitares et d’une batterie qui allait trôner un peu plus tard, au milieu du salon, narguant des ingés sons un peu inquiets par ce qui s’annonçait : de l’amplification et forcément un volume sonore assez inhabituel pour une Soirée de Poche

Plants and Animals - Georgia Straight feature

""Drawing on everything from art-school pop to purple-skies alt-country to ’70s-toned classic rock, the album mostly confirms Montreal as Canada’s undisputed hotbed of top-drawer indie rock.."

Plants and Animals on Daytrotter

"Warren Spicer sounds like he's following tracks out in the snow on 'Game Shows,' even though the song seems to be set indoors, in front of a television screen. We're transported though, to where the soft and powdery snow is a few inches deep and the longing pangs lead us. It takes us to a small fire for warmth, kicking dirty ashes of exhausted wood cords into a fluttery travel pattern that only takes them up so far and then drops them into our hair or hat and onto our Thermoses."

Plants and Animals announce winter Canadian tour

Plants and Animals may boast their share of laid-back jams, but they certainly can’t be accused of taking it easy—unless if by easy you mean touring their home and native land in the depths of winter, on the heels of a year that saw them play 100 shows. After a jam-packed 2010 in support of their sophomore album, La La Land, Plants and Animals will kick-off a 15-date national tour in early 2011, beginning in Vancouver on February 18th and running through to a home-town gig in Montreal, and tour-closer in Quebec City on March 12th. They’ll also be in great company along the way, with Yukon Blonde and 2010 Polaris Prize winners Karkwa supporting on the Western and Ontario legs of the tour, respectively. Full details are below...

Plants and Animals road warriors hit home with big Toronto, Montreal shows this week

Plants and Animals close out the first long leg of their North American tour in support of La La Land this week, with big shows in Toronto and Montreal. They'll also be on MTV live this evening at the Masonic Temple in advance of their show at the Opera House tomorrow night. Tickets for the Opera House are available here. On Friday night they make their Montreal Jazz Fest debut at Metropolis, with the Besnard Lakes supporting. Tickets for that show are available here. Fear not, however, other folks around the globe will have ample opportunity to catch Plants and Animals this summer, as they're set to play a number of other festivals starting July, including dates in Ottawa, Chicago and Seattle, the UK and Germany. They've also just announced a big show in NYC in the fall at Terminal 5 with Frightened Rabbit. Check the shows section for more details.

La La Land All Music Guide Review

"La La Land takes its name from what the band has described as a "vortex of confusion," but the dizzying effect that the album's disparate stylistic strains might incur is an altogether charming one ... For a trio that remains consistently unpretentious and accessible, Plants and Animals seem to have sucked up a fair amount of art rock influences somewhere along the way; [but] If there's a connecting thread running through the album, it's the chunky, insistent guitar riffs that pop up repeatedly ... Whatever you call it, that predilection for juicy hooks is a major part of what keeps this mercurial bunch solidly grounded."

Said the Gramophone on "Jeans Jeans Jeans"

"There are wolves out, he thought, squinting into the savannah. He was mistaken. No canis lupus had stalked this land since the suburbs materialized, half a century before. This was a land of dogs."

La La Land Relix Review

“American Idol,” sounds like a missing piece of Exile on Main Street... explores a wide array of styles, constructing dreamy melodies and sticking indie jams, making for a throwback style that radiates modernity."

Blogotheque - The Mama Papa recording sessions

Blogotheque has posted a unique Take-Away show today that features Plants and Animals recording "The Mama Papa" in France. They shot this at the same time as the series that ran in June 2009 featuring songs from Parc Avenue. You get to see the band in the recording process. Ultimately the band would actually re-record The Mama Papa with a different arranegment, but the take you see here is include on the iTunes release of the album as an extra: "The Mama Papa (Paris Basement Mix)". It rocks.

La La Land - Paste review - 85

"The record is alive with a lush, symphonic sensuousness that recalls Of Montreal; it’s as layered and ornate as an origami crane, but as organic and effortless as the real feathered thing. While the songs are shorter and punchier than the seven-minute marathons of Parc Avenue ... they’re complicated and gorgeous and feel as innate as desire itself." 85/100

Montreal Gazette feature

"Plants and Animals keep much of their precious free-spiritedness on La La Land, but fuse it with more hooks, ... It is there - somewhere between rock's wistful late-'60s, early-'70s heyday, '80s excess and '00s irony - that Plants and Animals stake out their place."

La La Land landed! Tour starts tonight with live online stream.

If you've visited the Secret City site at all in the past month or so, you know how excited we are about today and the release of Plants and Animals' La La Land. Well that's today. The album is available on CD and LP format in stores across North America, or directly from us. And of course it's also available at fine digital stores. The iTunes version in Canada and the USA also features a pretty slamming alternate version of "The Mama Papa". The band starts their massive North American tour tonight in Toronto with a free show at the Horseshoe. They're hitting a ton of cities across the continent, but regardless of where you are you can tune in tonight at 10:30pm for a live stream of the the show courtresy of LiveStream. We'll be embedding the show here, on plantsandanimals.ca, and you'll be allow to integrate it with Twitter and Facebook as well. Here are just a few things people are saying about La La Land: "Psychedelic, amplified and momentous, songs are multifaceted, with a sense of Radiohead importance, Arcade Fire intensity and très cool dirty-basement rock and roll ("American Idol" gets my vote as the missing link between Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street)." - The Globe and Mail "utterly thrilling while still retaining all the muted joy and gentle perfection of Parc Avenue ... an album for the ages and Plants and Animals' ultimate piece of work thus far" - Under the Radar "rife with chiming bells, ebullient trumpet blasts, and whistled outros. It's a bewitching record — a mix of soft-rock luster, classic-rock grit, and indie-rock dexterity — a sort of AM Gold for the dark-hearted." - eMusic ""By the time the amps stop ringing, you feel you've travelled through a cohesive, front-to-back, old-fashioned album, one that you probably wouldn't be surprised to learn still got plenty of spins decades down the line." - Blurt

La La Land Globe and Mail review

"Psychedelic, amplified and momentous, songs are multifaceted, with a sense of Radiohead importance, Arcade Fire intensity and très cool dirty-basement rock and roll ('American Idol 'gets my vote as the missing link between Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street)."

eMusic Review

"rife with chiming bells, ebullient trumpet blasts, and whistled outros. It's a bewitching record — a mix of soft-rock luster, classic-rock grit, and indie-rock dexterity — a sort of AM Gold for the dark-hearted."

La La Land is out tomorrow, entire album now streaming

We always take it as a good sign when what one person has to say about a record's sound completely contradicts what someone else says. Some seem to think Plants and Animals' new album, La La Land is a more laid back affair and others seem to think it's more aggressive. It's fitting then to be completing the staggered album-reveal today with the last two songs on the record, "Future from the 80s" and "Jeans Jeans Jeans," two tracks that probably represent the furthest the band goes in either direction on La La Land. And props to The Globe and Mail who counter the album's multi-faceted nature with an "inspired hallucation" in this great review. Do yourself a favour and pick up a copy tomorrow to make up your own mind.

Blurt Review

"By the time the amps stop ringing, you feel you've travelled through a cohesive, front-to-back, old-fashioned album, one that you probably wouldn't be surprised to learn still got plenty of spins decades down the line."

Now Magazine Review - 4 stars

"As laid-back and assured as anything they’ve released to date."

3/13/10 Brooklyn review - EarFarm

"And though this may have been your last chance to catch them “in a tiny box” (as Warren described the room at the beginning of their set), rest assured their three-man wrecking crew has sound to spare in demolishing Bowery Ballroom come June."

"Tom Cruz" is KEXP's song of the day

"an angular mixture of post-rock and pop fuzz ... an intelligently eclectic funsplotion"

La La Land reveal: Side 2! Album out next week.

Plants and Animals' La La Land is out one week from today, so we figured it was a fitting date to roll out another chunk of the ongoing album reveal. We've put up three new tracks today, considering the fact that anyone who's paying attention has probably already heard "The Mama Papa," the first single and the lead-off track for Side B of the album. The two tracks that follow came from the band's sessions in France. “Fake It” is the first song the band recorded there, and the drummer’s favourite. It’s not hard to see why. This is one you need to hear on the turn-table, loud. "Celebration" was originally supposed to close the album. Another La Frette offering, it was written almost on the spot with a simple chord progression Warren came up with sitting in the garden outside the studio. “We worked quickly on a structure with Warren playing some soul guitar,” Nic says, “with me on the B3 and Woody on drums. We brought the tape back to Montreal and added a world a fuzz guitars and some horns. Our first plan was to end it with the pretty birds from La Frette singing at the end but instead we crashed a jet on another planet.”

Long Island Press review

"La La Land is rich with sonic layers and musical curiosity; it’s beautiful, bountiful, celebratory, mournful, weird and catchy as a fever....There is great tenderness here; the music has deep roots, and vivid colors, and overwhelming grace"

Reviler Review (89 / 100)

"Like a lot of my favorite music, La La Land creates something interesting and unique out of a formula that can easily be trite and predictable in lesser hands... I could go on and on about this album (and Parc Avenue…seriously, if you haven’t heard it go out and get it) and how great it is. I am hoping La La Land will be Plants and Animals version of The National’s Boxer, which brought them worldwide recognition after their excellent if under appreciated Alligator album. The songs are so well developed and engaging that I have every reason to believe that the band will finally get their due recognition."

La La Land revealed: Side A complete with "Kon Tiki" and "Game Shows"

If “Undone Melody” is the album’s emotional centerpiece, “Kon Tiki” is its sexy soul. Inspired by a cheesy California hotel Plants and Animals found themselves in on tour, you can pretty much smell the sunset on this one. “’Kon Tiki’ is making it to the coast,” Woody says. “We did the North American circle a few times and California always felt like the pinnacle, the instinctive arrival point. One night we found a nice hotel to chill-out in called the Kon Tiki. We followed the trade winds across America and ended up in a trashy coastal dance bar. Continental zenith.” “Game Shows” is another epic builder that starts soft, builds quickly and then takes a curious twist before a classic rock outro effectively closes side one of the album. It's also one of the album's most touching, a love song that features one of Warren's best intimate vocal performances to-date. Brad Barr stopped by the studio the day they were tracking this one and guests on piano. As always, the continuing unfolding album stream is here. We're accepting Mail-order Pre-orders as of now for both CD and LP versions of the album, the latter of which includes a free 320kbps mp3 download of the record. And for those of you always on the lookout for bonus material, you can Pre-Order La La Land on iTunes now, and get access to some exclusive extras from the recording sessions.

The Uniter Review

"the album you've been waiting long and hard for ... intoxicating and inventive" 4 out of 5 stars.

Today's La La Land reveal: "Undone Melody"

Today we roll ahead with another installment of the staggered album reveal of La La Land. And no, if you're just catching up now, this isn't an April Fools joke. “Undone Melody” might be the best track on the record, if not also its emotional centerpiece. One of the only songs to have been fleshed-out and played on tour before the band went to record (they debuted it in Montreal in late 2008), fans of previous P&A songs like “Faerie Dance” and “Lola Who?” will see the logical progression here. At six minutes it’s not the longest song they’ve ever recorded, but it certainly stands up as one of their most epic and immediately engaging. Don't be fooled by the gentle entry; this one gets heavy. Enjoy.

Plants and Animals in La La Land - Episode 8: Fake It

Plants and Animals to reveal La La Land piece-by-piece starting today

We couldn't wait any longer. And we also couldn't choose just one more song from La La Land to share with the world. So we decided to stream the whole thing. But not all in one shot. Starting today we'll be revealing La La Land piece-by-piece leading up to its official release on April 20th. So in addition to the lead-off track "Tom Cruz" that we dropped back in January, we're now also streaming "Swinging Bells" and "American Idol," tracks 2 and 3 on the La La Land page. There are a few reasons behind this. Mainly we've been digging deep into this record for a few months now, and it's still getting multiple daily rotations in the office. Everyone seems to have a different favourite track, but more importantly there's no wasted space on this record. And while everyone is free to listen to a record that they buy any which way they like, or burn a hole in a single, we wanted to do justice to this front-to-back album by giving each piece of it a moment in limelight, in sequence. So today we've got "Swinging Bells" and "American Idol" on the table, two of the album's shorter offerings, partially due to the fact that were originally one complete song. “Swinging Bells” starts off with Plants and Animals at their most eerie and off-kilter, with delicate dabs of rickety 70s piano, but quickly builds to a rousing “la la la” peak that seems to introduce the record in earnest. The “la la las” that in part inspired the album name eventually land in “American Idol,” the upbeat sequel that, according to Nic Basque, “brought to life one of our musical dreams: to record a rock sax solo.” But there’s no irony here. With the help of sax all-star Colin Stetson (Arcade Fire), and some crazy Huey Lewis style arrangements from Warren and Nic, the song more than lives up to its over-the-top title. But hey, for those of you that prefer to digest things via weirdo minute-or-less Youtube clips, the band has prepared a series of episodes starring their friend Joe Cobden, and a pickle. We'll have the next offering up on Thursday! Enjoy.

Plants and Animals in La La Land - Episode 5: Kon Tiki

Globe & Mail on "Swinging Bells"

"stately, surprising track from their beautiful new album."

Under the Radar Review

"an album for the ages and Plants and Animals ultimate piece of work thus far"

Chromewaves on Plants and Animals in Toronto

"... their performance on this evening quite nearly tore my face off..."

Spinner SXSW preview / interview with P&A

"What are your musical influences?" Lions, tigers and Charlie Watts.

Hero Hill on "Tom Cruz"

"... one of the heaviest, most muscular riffs they've ever recorded to tape ... As far as excitement levels and expectations, Tom Cruz certainly puts critics and fans on notice."

Plants and Animals announce US tour, new single/video

Plants and Animals have just announced their most exhaustive North American tour to-date, with the addition of over 20 US dates (and packed SXSW schedule) to their already announced Canadian itinerary. They'll be heading down to Brooklyn next week for a sneak-peak, opening for Broken Bells on March 10th, before their CMW appearances in Toronto. You can see the full list of shows here. The band has also released a new video for another song from La La Land, entitled The Mama Papa. Directed by Sinbad Richardson, inspired by Frederico Fellini, and starring P&A, and Joe Cobden.

Plants and Animals announce Canadian Tour in support of La La Land

More news today in Plants and Animals land, as the band has announced Canadian dates in support of their forthcoming album, La La Land, which we announced back in January. The tour starts April 21st in Quebec City, and wraps May 5th out in Vancouver. Tickets for the tour go on sale this Friday, February 5 at 10:00 a.m. (dates are listed below, with more details in the shows section). The band will also be showcasing the new material during a series of performances in March at both CMW in Toronto and at SXSW in Austin, Texas. For fans outside Canada, fear not, there's lots more where this came from; stay tuned. La La Land live:

Plants and Animals announce new album, La La Land

Very exciting day here at Secret City, as we're pleased to announced the release of Plants and Animals second full-length record, La La Land, due out in North America on April 20th. And if you're already familiar with their debut, Parc Avenue, you know why this is a big deal. And let us be the first to say this album is bigger, smoother, tougher and tighter than the last one. The La La Land album page has a whole lot more to say, but more importantly, also has the first sneak listen—a little warm-up number called "Tom Cruz" to get you through the cold months until the rest of it drops...

Plants and Animals on Blogothèque's Concerts à Emporter

Plants and Animals are featured on Blogothèque today, with three fabulous Concerts à Emporter sending off songs from Parc Avenue and the with/avec EP. These were recorded at the magical La Frette studio just outside Paris back in May while the band was recording their new album. The record is almost wrapped. And they'll be back in Europe in October for a bunch of dates we'll be announcing soon. In the meantime, check out the great Take Away shows... And if you're in Ontario or Quebec, Peterborough and Wakefield are host to two pretty intimate shows this Labour Day weekend. These will likely be the last Canadian dates for sometime!

Plants and Animals nominated for two JUNO Awards

Plants and Animals have been nominated for two JUNO awards. One for Alternative Album of the Year (for Parc Avenue), and the other for New Group of the Year. The awards will take place March 29 in Vancouver. Go P&A!

Stranger Dance - Top Albums of 2008

"Parc Avenue is an exuberant collection of songs that hold up as an album — a novelty in 2008 — with a cohesive feel, gracefully stretched across a wide range of moods. ... Ultimately, the album exudes warmth and passion, and begs for repeated listens."

Radio Free Canuckistan Polaris preview

"the end result crafts a unique sound that not only stakes its place in a continuum the began with Neil Young and The Band, but forges their own sound and places Plants and Animals heads and shoulders above any other ensemble likely to be tagged a 'jam band.'"

Plants and Animals fall tour underway

After a packed sold-out kickstart last week at the Horseshoe in Toronto (check out a quick review and some great pics here), Plants and Animals fall tour begins in earnest tonight in Wakefield. To celebrate, Parc Avenue is going for cheap at the iTunes store as Album of the Week. If you don't have it already, pick it up! The band will be making a short stop in Toronto over the weekend for Monday's Polaris Prize gala. Secret City wants to wish them the best of luck, and is sorry that they've had to answer so many questions about the young label's history with the even younger prize. Such is the territory!

Toronto show, photos by Pete Nema

"Last Thursday night with Plants and Animals and Ruby Coast was one of the best shows I've been to this year so far."

Plants and Animals on Pitchfork.TV

When Plants and Animals were down in New York earlier this summer for a show at the Mercury Lounge, they spent an afternoon on a rooftop in Manhattan playin' some tunes. If you haven't checked out Pitchfork.Tv's rad show "Don't Look Down," now's your chance ... P&A are the featured band today, with live performances of Faerie Dance, Bye Bye, New Kind of Love and Lola Who?

Plants and Animals announce North American fall dates

Folks dig the P&A. It's been a big year for the trio, and the last quarter of it isn't about to get quieter. The band caps off their summer tour this weekend with a couple Quebec shows. The first in Quebec City on Friday, and then at the FME festvial in Rouyn-Noranda on Saturday. And then the fall tour starts a couple weeks later and doesn't let up until Halloween. September will see them in Toronto a whole bunch, starting with a big show at the Horseshoe Tavern on the 18th, as well as the big Polaris Gala on the 29th, when the prize (which they're up for) will be handed out. After a few other Ontario stops, the band will hit the road with Born Ruffians for a massive tour that will take them out to Vancouver, down to LA, across to Texas and back up to New York. Check the show dates for the nitty-gritty.

Plants and Animals to play free show at the Montreal Apple store

Plants and Animals are home for an extended rest after a busy summer of touring, and an even busier fall lined-up (more on that soon...). Before they kick up their feet, though, they'll be busting out one more summer set, this time indoors, at the newly opened Montreal Apple Store. The show is tomorrow (August 19th) at 8:00pm, and is entirely free; first come, first in.

Plants and Animals to open for Gnarls Barkley, the National

Crazy times for Plants and Animals. As momentum continues to swell for Parc Avenue and word of the band's all-out awesomeness with it, bigger and wilder things seem to be coming out of nowhere. The band has just added a last minute gig for this Friday in Columbus, Ohio, where they'll be opening for Gnarls Barkley. The label is currently encouraging them to prepare a Goodie Mob cover. They keep with the grand-company theme through the weekend with their home-town Osheaga appearance on Sunday (before Cat Power and Iggy & the Stooges), and their Central Park gig with the National on August 4th.

Parc Avenue on Pitchfork's Most Overlooked Records of 2008

"ust when we all thought we were sick of indie rock from Montreal (which is pretty odd and unfair in the first place, it's not like the energy in the town builds or falls based solely on the Butler/Boeckner/Krug axis), comes Plants and Animals..."

Parc Avenue makes Polaris Prize short list

Plants and Animals' much-loved Parc Avenue has made this year's short list for Canada's prestigious Polaris Music Prize. It's the second year in a row Secret City has been represented on the list, after both Miracle Fortress and Patrick Watson (who went on to win the award) showed up on it last year. As always, the list is full of great albums, and we encourage music lovers everywhere to go and check out all of them. If for some reason you haven't heard Parc Avenue in its entirety yet, maybe now's a good time to do so? The band is playing summer festivals throughout its native land through the rest of the summer, with one extra stop in New York at Central Park's summerstage, where they'll be playing with the National and Yeasayer.

Parc Avenue short listed for Polaris Prize

Plants and Animals hit the West coast

Fresh off their first European jaunt, Plants and Animals are set to make another round of great first live impressions, this time on the U.S. west coast. The short tour starts next Monday in Seattle, where they'll also be appearing live on KEXP (12 noon Pacific time), performing a few songs and chatting with Cheryl Waters. Do to fan-driven demand, they've also added a show in Phoenix at the tail-end of the tour. They'll be back in Canada in time for Canada Day on July 1st for a gig at Habourfront in Toronto.

PopMatters Review - 9/10

"The Montreal scene has itself a new champion."

Plants and Animals to play Central Park with the National, Yeasayer

Concert in the park! Plants and Animals are adding at least one more fun outdoor show to their summer festival itinerary this summer, and it's a fun one. On August 4th they'll be in some very good company at Central Park's Summerstage, where they'll get things rolling for a night of music that will also feature The National and Yeasayer.

Plants and Animals on the Canadian summer festival circuit

Plants and Animals will be playing on a bunch of big, sunny, outdoor stages across Canada this summer. The quintessential summer festival band? You'll be able to decide for yourself as they hit summer faves like Hillside, Ottawa Blues, Wolfe Island, Salmon Arm, and play some home-province stages at Osheaga, in Quebec City, and at FME Abitibi. They'll also be making the trek all the way up to Yellowknife to get some fresh air at the Folk on the Rocks Festival. More to come, too! The band does part one of their summer U.S. tour starting next week in Philadelphia. All details can be found in the shows section.

Plants and Animals to play a bunch more US dates

Plants and Animals will be hitting both coasts of the USA as the summer months creep in, starting with a string of dates in the North East in May. In June they'll be off to the West Coast for their first ever shows out there, including stops in Seattle, Portland, San Fran and LA.

Parc Avenue out in the USA next week...band head West through Canada

People everywhere seem to love Parc Avenue, and on March 25th, people in the USA can go to stores and buy copies of it. Meanwhile the band is headed West for a string of more Canadian shows that will take them out to Vancouver and back. The album is also avaible across North America on iTunes and eMusic. A really nice gatefold 2LP is coming, too, but we're taking our time with that one and getting it right, because this album deserves it. Check back soon or sign up for our newsletter for official updates on the catalog and release-territories. If you haven't already checked out Plants and Animals (or Secret City), by all means do so now, and feel free to start with Parc Avenue...it's a whale of a record.

Pitchfork Review - 8.0 Recommended

Though last year's too-brief with/avec EP hinted at Plants and Animals' expansiveness, it didn't fully prepare listeners for Parc Avenue, a sprawling collection of rootsy melodies, majestic arrangements, and classic rock riffs...Plants and Animals may not be the first band to put Montreal on the musical map, but, with this album's there's-no-place-like-home vibe, they are certainly the first to celebrate it so warmly.

Plants and Animals SXSW schedule...

After rocking CMW (and CBC's Q; grab the podcast here!) last weekend in Toronto, Plants and Animals are on their way down to Austin, Texas where they'll make at least three appearances at SXSW. They are thus: March 14th Homeslice Pizza (Party) @ 12:45pm (afternoon) 1415 South Congress March14th Maggie May's (M for Montreal - Official Showcase) @ 11pm 323 East 6th Street March 15th Urban Outfitters (Party) @ 3pm 2406 Guadalupe St. (behind the UO) Come check them out if you're in town....

Plants and Animals at CMW, SXSW

Fresh off Parc Avenue's first week in Canadian stores, Plants and Animals will be hitting up Canadian Music Week in Toronto on Thursday (March 6th) at the Horseshoe Tavern, and will follow that up with an appearance at SXSW in Austin next week. See the shows section for details.. Parc Avenue has burst out of the gates here and has a lot of folks saying awfully nice things about it. The album will be out in the U.S. on March 25th.

Huffington Post : Plants and Animals THE performance of the night at FME

Certainement LA performance de la nuit, le groupe phare indie-rock montréalais Plants and Animals commence vraiment, mais vraiment, à prendre beaucoup de place sur la scène musicale canadienne.

Get ready for the next big one - Montreal Gazette

"Mark Tuesday on your calendar. On that date, Plants and Animals will release Parc Avenue, an album with a spirit of adventure that will add the band to Montreal's growing legion of visionary rock groups..."