Review Summary: An underappreciated classic of 90's emo
A year or two ago while sifting through all the 90’s emo I could find, I came across Plunger. The unassuming but distinct greyscale cover image of an eroded stone angel is immediately recognisable in its style. Peers such as Indian Summer share a similar visual style wherein a block colour surrounds a simple motif. Plunger’s variation on this is a perfect accompaniment to the music shown within; a cathartic, understated and honest experience.
This honesty is exuded in the texture of the album, not only in the music but in the production quality. Tonally the guitar work is rather sparse. It almost seems to convey a kind of emotional hesitance in the slower passages which then explodes into an inevitable heavier climax. While this is somewhat typical of 90’s emo, Plunger’s creation is something truly special. The bass reverberates throughout their sound, filling the space vacated by the guitar in many places. It’s reminiscent of later work by screamo bands such as Off Minor, as the bass takes centre stage with guitar playing the backing. The interplay therein is intricate and beautiful, as the guitar and bass constantly shift places on the open canvas provided by the drums.
Atop this ensemble of instrumentals sit vocals that slide naturally between spoken word and screams throughout. These changes are incredibly dynamic as the vocalist’s inflection shifts line to line in expression of his emotional condition. Lyrically these songs are incredibly poetic and yet they remain simple. This along with the vocalists’ sense of timing is a huge contributor to the honesty this album exudes.
Plunger – Inle’
“Somehow, we divide
Short lived in our glory
in the false face of a smile
and placid eyes
Upholding the ruins
of our foreground
our imaginary unit
of our once found-
Now abetted lies.
Are we simply locked
in the past
Left to daydream
our fallen sky.”
These words seep the catharsis and almost sombre edge embodied within this album. They conjure an image in my mind of a short high point in life and a fall to ruins that haunts you for years to come. And finally, of those moments far in the future where your mind wanders and you remember what could have been.
That’s one of the best parts about this album – the way it manages to contain such easily relatable short stories in a widely interpretable package. The base emotion is so evident that it’s impossible not to empathise. Even further it is impressive to contain this within the relatively short runtimes of these songs; where the longest is just over five minutes. It’s refreshing to hear such a succinct album, when many contemporaries in the post-hardcore and emo scene that Plunger allude to have much longer and more epic songs. Plunger’s posthumous LP is a short and sweet 26 minutes and 12 seconds. Practically this means it is very easy to digest and while this is not to say there isn’t something to be said for the more drawn out format; it is great to hear shorter albums in the same vein.
Plunger have created a record that in my mind is one of a kind. It has such special qualities to it, and yet they are rather overlooked in comparison to other similar bands around the same time – something that I think is a huge shame. Many more people should hear this album, and with the current Kickstarter project for a compilation boxset this is the perfect time. I would highly encourage any fan of 90’s emo and post-hardcore to check out this band.
