2020 intro
Three weeks before the release of 2020’s Impulse Voices, Plini’s phone blew up. During the MTV EMA evemt, American singer and rapper Doja Cat performed a surprisingly metal version of her hit Say So – but what grabbed attention was the newly-added guitar solo and its imilarity to the title track from Plini’s 2016 album Handmade Cities.
“I was sent the video by a bunch of different fans,” the Sydney-based guitarist recalls. “Some of them were outraged and some were curious. I watched it and I thought, ‘Hey, that is similar,’ Then I watched it again and I was like, ‘Hey, that’s really similar!’
“I tried to find out who the band was, but some fans did the research for me and found the musical director, who claims to be a big fan of mine. So I found that it was directly inspired – which I actually thought that was pretty cool.”
While some people’s thoughts might have turned to lawsuits and compensation, he took a more relaxed position. “I think there was enough keyboard warrior outrage that it became an issue, even if I didn’t necessarily think it was a huge issue. I just thought it was hilarious! Doja Cat sent me a big apology on Instagram. She said if the musical director was so big a fan to take a chunk out my song, then he should have just hit me up to collaborate on it. And that was sort of that.”
He continues: “It was the perfect timing for the album’s press campaign – what better way to get thousands of people who’ve never listened to instrumental prog to at least check it out, because their favourite artist is in a headline?”
Plini’s humble handling of the controversy epitomises his career to date. A guitarist with an immeasurable amount of talent and an immaculate ear for melodies, he’s always gone about his business without fuss or drama. Instead, his music – and heavy touring – has always done the talking.
Despite releasing Impulse Voices without any record label support, it gained one million streams in a mere 60 hours. He also sold out of the numerous vinyl pressings and merch bundles in the process. All from an artist who doesn’t play up to hype and doesn’t have the word ‘overblown’ in his vocabulary. Quietly but assuredly, he’s become one of the most celebrated young guitarists of the 21st century – not through egoism or clever media management, but through the quality of his music and his easygoing, friendly demeanour.
“I usually write everything but the melody first,” he says of his creative process. “The melody is sort of the lowest common denominator. Once I have something in a stupid time signature with chords all over the place, I’ll think of the simplest thing I can overlay to mark that it’s a song and not a math exercise.”
Which is why his music resonates so well. For a musician labelled a virtuoso in his
craft – a title that can often lead to derivative acrobatic one-upmanship – Plini’s music
is sweet with melodies and ripe with accessibility. Even when the flips and tricks
do come they’re still inherently musical and feverishly addictive.
“A lot of the music I listen to is very simple harmonically; that’s what sounds good to me,” he says. “I have a lot of simple progressions, but for each chord I’ll find a way to play it that I haven’t done before, and by that time I’ve built it into a new place where it might sound a bit more abstract. Some parts are more just trying to figure out how to get as weird as possible while still sounding pleasant. But I try to make as much room for moments like simple melodies as I do for ‘Check out this sick lick!’”
Impulse Voices, an album born out of a most unusual 12 months, takes steps in so many different directions. Much of that diversity can be traced back to having much more time for the project.
“I tend to be a bit optimistic with my time management, so it was a positive thing, having a lot of extra time I didn’t think I’d have,” he says. “It took maybe six or seven months in all, rather than the three I initially planned for, and I had a lot of fun with it. I let everything rest, going into a lot of detail and having everything sound exactly how I wanted it to be before releasing it.”
He continues: “I’ve listened to so much different music in the last few years, especially a lot of electronic stuff which started sneaking its way into my music. I’d think, ‘Fuck it, I’m gonna put in a dance beat in this section,’ or, ‘There’s going to be a disco beat in 19/8 and we’ll make it as musical as possible.’ I’d learn from the experience.”
His days were split between tinkering in his home studio and taking time away from his instrument. “Thankfully, living in a really beautiful part of the world where the weather’s usually good, I could just wander around with my headphones when I wanted time away from writing,” he says.
The Impulse Voices press release says podcasts were a major part of what snaked through his thoughts on those wanders. “I listened to a lot of Meshuggah records as well. Some people don’t like to listen to other music while they’re working on their own stuff because they want to avoid anything seeping in – but I’ve found almost the opposite.
“So as well as the podcasts, which I felt was something to keep my brain doing new things, I was listening to a lot of different music that really helped with the process. I’d find a little production trick I wanted to use in this song, or a structure I could use to help with that song. It was a constant research process.”
What’s even more impressive than the record’s diversity is how effortlessly Plini flits between styles. Featuring his most delicate playing as well as his most rampant riffing, the album explores so much between those extremes. From saxophone and electric harp solos to 90s dance breakouts, Impulse Voices is a celebration of musicality over self-flattery. Its variance helps give it a greater sense of scope – but he also makes all those different genres feel like kindred spirits rather than bitter rivals.
As the dust settles after the Say So drama, Plini welcomes the idea of metal and pop embracing again. “I think it’s awesome that a whole minute of the Doja Cat arrangement was guitar solos,” he says. “Hopefully more and more pop songs will get rearranged in different ways. Then all we need is for it to happen with metal songs too. Eventually we’ll no longer have genres and it’ll be a happy, happy world.”
