Philadelphia-based Planette Automatic juggle bubbly instrumentals and sorrow-soaked poetry in “Dance Around,” a Y2K-tinted indie rock reverie that roars through lust, chaos, and social pressure with a grin on its face.
Stream: “Dance Around” – Planette Automatic
Lust is a mirror that longs for a witness / Desire is an angel without forgiveness…
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I’ve been to Pennsylvania exactly once, during which time I did not see any large cities, liberty bells, or holes in the ether.
I did see miles of cornfields and an astronomical amount of Amish people, but that’s neither here nor there. All this is to say that Pennsylvania isn’t the sort of place that crosses my mind when I think of areas with a happening music scene, so it took me by surprise when I began researching this piece and found out that Planette Automatic are from Philadelphia.
This Keystone State supergroup, made up of Adam Shumski and Dan Ryan of BODEGA, bassist Sam Nobles of Mean Lady, and vocalist The Poet KR, generally sports a spacey post-punk sort of sound that screams New York City to me. That being said, Planette Automatic’s latest single, “Dance Around,” is a bit of a departure from that New York underground sound.
I turn the lights off
I dance around in my room
I put the pin in the eye
And from the eye she says
I’m the sunshine betting
a hole in the ether
Sunshine diggin’
a hole in the eye
Turn on the radio
Lets jump around in my bed
Let’s do the pin in the head
From the sky she says
I’m the sunshine betting
a hole in the ether
Sunshine diggin’
a hole in the eye, yeah
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Dance Around,” Planette Automatic’s first release of the year (out June 5th via Bad Catt Records). Following last year’s self-titled debut EP, the band’s latest song offers a bouncy sort of indie rock tune. It’s got a vibrant, upbeat melody that positively reeks of a hit summer single – the type of song you want to blast so loud that it rattles your rearview mirror as you fly down a sun-baked stretch of highway. It’s springy guitars, crashing drums, meaty bass, and bubbly vocals, reminiscent of the less aggressive post-punk revival hits. This is a sharp contrast to the lyrics, which, when you take a minute to look at them, are substantially darker than the cheery instrumental would lead on. Those perky melodies paint images of oppressive societal pressures, crumbling relationships, lust for chaos, and holes tearing in the ether. It makes for a tasteful juxtaposition which leaves you giggling at the absurdity.
That absurdity, however, is exactly the point. Beneath its bright, danceable exterior, “Dance Around” imagines distraction as a kind of self-defense – a way of drowning out disaster until the disaster becomes impossible to ignore. “I thought I heard a human say to the Sun, ‘I turn the lights off – I dance around in my room – turn on the radio – let’s jump around in my bed,’ meaning to ignore the Sun and her pressing power to destroy,” Planette Automatic’s The Poet KR tells Atwood Magazine. “But the Sun said, ‘I’m the sunshine burning a hole in the ether.’ This disrupted the human, and so she responded, ‘Set it off,’ in order to dare the Sun. But the Sun, who cannot be dared, taunted the human back – ‘Turn it up.’ And so the band played on, and the house burned down.”
“If you turn the radio up, it may filter out the sounds of fire – that which blazes the trees, from where the ladybugs flee – but fire does not concede to delusion. The house eventually burns. Society sequesters at home to make comforts out of phone calls, dancing, beautifying in mirrors, waiting for giant spiders with hair to signal an apocalypse. If only society could turn the radio down – perhaps the fires would go out. ‘Dance Around’ is a satire of ignorance and the first fascination of Mrs. Blue. The video represents this, in Y2K party fashion. Ironically, in Philly, we are having a lovely spring.”
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Set it off
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Turn it up
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Set it off
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Turn it up
Beauty is pain, and pain is drama
The tune comes paired with a music video that doubles down on the goofy indie rock side of things. The visual features cuts between KR dancing around in her room, talking on the phone, and singing in bed as the band plays along on the screen of her TV. This lasts the majority of the song until, following the breakdown, the vocalist ventures down into her basement, where she joins the band for a cigarette and a jam session. The video is reminiscent of the kind of thing that would accompany a pop song in the 2000s. There’s plenty of dancing, flashy imagery, and Y2K tech floating around here, which simultaneously opposes the lyrical content, making the video seem peppy and fun, and reinforces the message by parodying the optimistic music of the late ‘90s and early 2000s, from which it is borrowing said imagery.
Turn on the radio
Lets jump around in my head
Let’s do the “chin in the bed”
From the sound she says
I’m the sunshine betting a hole in the ether
Sunshine diggin’ a hole in the eye, yeah
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Set it off
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Turn it up
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Set it off
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Turn it up
Beauty is pain, and pain is drama
“Dance Around” serves as the lead single off Planette Automatic’s forthcoming debut album Blue Fascination, set to release July 31st via Bad Catt Records. The change in tone here makes one wonder if the entire album won’t be a genre shift for the band. Obviously, being that this is the only song we have heard off the record so far, it’s too early to say for certain. It does, however, certainly stoke speculation in my mind that we may be in store for a dazzling indie rock record.
We won’t know until we hear the next single, so for now, we’ll just have to play “Dance Around” on repeat to let it stoke the fire of conjecture.
(Lie, lie, lie, lie lie lie lie, lie lie, lie lie)
Beauty is pain, and pain is drama
Drama is pleasure and hunger is pleasure
Lust is a mirror that longs for a witness
Desire is an angel without forgiveness
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Set it off
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Turn it up
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Set it off
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
Turn it up
Sunshine betting a hole in the ether
Sunshine diggin’ a hole in the eye
Sunshine betting a hole in the ether
Beauty is pain
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Stream: “Dance Around” – Planette Automatic
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© Paige Walter
© Paige Walter
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