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VENUS VINYL OF THE MONTH - NOVEMBER 2024
Release Date: 1st November 2024
This one cuts deep... The surprise fifth and final album from one of our all-time favourite bands. Band leader, Gared O'Donnell, tragically passed away in late 2021. His death was felt around the world by many - for no one is merely a 'fan' of Planes Mistaken for Stars but a laminated life-time member - such is their powerful force and gravity (Gared's passing possessed me to get my first ever tattoo of their iconic logo - branded with the band's beliefs and worn as a badge of honour). Do You Still Love Me? is a rollercoaster of a listen - weaving its way through hard-hitting and heavy tough-topics played as ever with their unrelenting energy; as well as several nods to their earlier sonic incarnations (including some vintage Deep Elm Records motifs), as well as unexpected new turns (see the Slowdive-esque number 'Modern Logic'). It's a fitting final farewell for forever fans, as well as being a perfect place to start with what will be your new favourite band!
R.I.P Gared, we ride to fight with thunder in the night forever, brother! You may be gone but you will never be forgotten - and your music will live on forever x
"A harrowing document of life, death and transcendence, Do You Still Love Me? is the fifth album from Planes Mistaken for Stars (PMFS), the band’s second outing for Deathwish Records and first new music since 2016. It is also the first PMFS release since the death of frontman Gared O’Donnell, whose cancer diagnosis loomed heavily over the recording and whose ghost guided the mix. Chemo and radiation would not stop him from making this masterpiece, in which the band finds itself reeling from the gut-wrenching horrors of their leader’s unimaginable absence. Written in Peoria amidst the forced isolation of a global pandemic and recorded by Sanford Parker in Chicago, these thirteen songs burn the ears to listen. Album opener “Matthew is Dead” wastes no time with niceties as Planes mourns the 2017 death of founding guitarist Matt Bellinger — Gared’s throat-shredded rasp seethes as if taunting himself: You’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead— guttural human screams unbottled and broken glass shattered as transcendental meditation and musical catharsis, for band and listener alike. These acute and raw moments are found throughout the record, audible wounds you can hear, see, taste and almost touch. We’ve only got the night, as Gared knew and preached and lived. Just one last drink, shall we begin? Do You Still Love Me? carries forward Planes’ natural evolution beyond post-hardcore and metal-tinged rock n’ roll, unveiling new layers with each listen. Intertwined vocals and infectious melodies simmer beneath the surface and occasionally boil over, shards of guitar strike like lightning as the rhythm section pounds its marching orders. Whether pummeling mercilessly or tenderly relenting, Do You Still Love Me? shows a band unafraid to lose itself in the musical maelstrom. I don’t have the shakes, the shakes have me — it’s not an easy listen, yet offers immense rewards with time, alchemizing a unique beauty from the pain and tragedy of its creation. It’s an emotional bloodletting for Planes and their extended family around the world, a collective primal scream of coping with life and last breaths, and eternal proof that death is truly not the end."
