Just plain sexy
La La Land, the second full-length from Canadian trio Plants and Animals, is richer and heavier than the band’s debut, Parc Avenue, but still chock full of the first’s breakthrough eclecticism. Gorgeous melodies make love to fuzzed out ‘70s rock ’n’ roll as singer Warren C. Spicer seductively moans, “Let’s go up on the roof and see things that look alive,” on “Celebration.” It’s a tempting offer. 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, with Spicer’s voice rising and falling over New Orleans’ brass (“American Idol”), swaggering guitars (“Tom Cruz”) and grooving drumbeats (“Kon Tiki”), they’re complicated and gorgeous and feel as innate as desire itself.