Plastiscines
‘About Love’
(Because Music)

Proust once declared that “in love there is a permanent suffering”.  This is a near-perfect surmise of Parisian popstrels Plasticines’ debut, ‘About Love’.  Despite their Blondie ambitions, their sound is merely a devastatingly bland, meticulously calculated accoutrement to their sassy image.  The faux-punk shtick typified on opener ‘I Could Rob You’ wears thinner and thinner as the rambling riffage saunters from one nondescript track to another. Hollow Karen O aping on ‘Bitch’ sounds vacant and false; where half-arsed acoustic offering ‘I am Down Tonight’ is achingly trite, eliciting glee rather than sympathy at our protagonist’s romantic mishaps.  Yes, they look great.  Yes, they’re played on Gossip Girl: but Plastiscines are definitive proof that all that glitters is certainly not gold.

Emily Gosling