by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
In the years since we last wrote about Chicago’s Wallplant, the project has transformed from Donny Walsh’s solo effort into a full band, a power-house of jangly and jittery lo-fi punk that’s big on hooks and rampant charm. Together with frequent collaborators Josh Rodin (Cel Ray, Sprite), Lou Pinto (American Breakfast), and Alex Watson (Cel Ray), the quartet format brings Wallplant to life, capturing the tone of past records with a mutated pop bliss. While it’s been a couple years since their last record, the band are out there doing their thing, creating bent post-punk that feels both animated and incessant. The recently filmed Live at Jamdek session captures the band in the studio, working through songs old and new.
There’s a special energy to Wallplant’s music, captured in loose melodies and determined rhythms. As one moment collapses, the band roar into the next. Opener “Hooper,” the song we had the pleasure of premiering all those years back, is a great example of this, a song that starts out with a psychedelic pop gleam before gracefully turning toward something more rigid, the guitars lifting the structure out of the stratosphere. The song sets the framework for the remainder of Wallplant’s Jamdek session, highlighting their ability to squirm and swerve from one immersive swarm of raw melodic noise to the next. Songs like “Hit Points” nearly swallow the catchy hooks whole while “Understand” is built on massive Crazy Horse and J Mascis leaning shredded twang, but Walsh’s power-pop tendencies always shine through, the unassuming ease a massive part of their magic.