The Getaway Plan
Dark Horses
Independent
Release Date: 3 July 2015
Review by Peyton Bernhardt
It’s a magic moment when you hear an album that you’ve been anticipating and you don’t feel disappointed. If you’re up for a release that justifies its hype, The Getaway Plan’s latest offering is for you. A crowdfunded, independent release, Dark Horses meets the expectations that The Getaway Plan’s past albums have put them up against.
Top to bottom, this album delivers, encompassing a maturity of the band’s alt rock/post hardcore sound to a perfect point. Opener Landscapes exhibits that. As soon as you reach its build up, its instrumentals, vocals and harmonies climax to an intensity that reveals a small victory from the get-go: The Getaway Plan have done it again. The strength of its opener is backed by follow-ups including Castles In The Air, which has a coda resembling a landslide of sonic ferocity.
The length of these tracks also reinforces The Getaway Plan’s progression. It’s not just that there are some songs that clock in at over six minutes, it’s that the effort and intention of every component of this LP is distinctive and palpable. The outfit have taken their time to communicate what they want to sound like and say, and the craftsmanship they expose allows listeners to extrapolate that they’ve invested themselves into refining their skill, not their ability to produce one-off radio hits. That’s also evident in the record’s instrumentals, but most of all, its vocals. All in all, even when clichés reign (see Lost In The Woods), Dark Horses doesn’t let you bat your eyelids, with surprising structures like that of F(r)iend bringing it back to life.
Necessary to acknowledge is this album’s idiosyncratic standout: Baby Bird Effigy. The tune is musical-like, with acoustic guitars backing its nuanced sugar-sweetness. Its individuality is a revelation that The Getaway Plan are a product of their influences, not a replica, reinforcing how valuable these talented lads are to Australia’s music scene.
Whether or not this is better than their past releases is irrelevant; The Getaway Plan have reached the bar that they’ve set for themselves and raised it. Exhale the breath you were holding and play Dark Horses again.
