Warp duo Plaid have confirmed the release of their first new album in five years.
One of Warp’s central production teams during the 90s, you could be forgiven for thinking that Plaid had all but disappeared. Live shows have been few and far between, while fans have waited five years for new material.
Yet this belies the scale of the band’s activity recently. Plaid have been involved with numerous film projects, including an extensive period of collaboration with Michael Aria which resulted in two feature length films.
Now, though, Plaid are set to step definitely out of the shadows. The duo have completed their new studio album, and plan to release ‘Scintili’ through Warp records on September 26th.
A phrase meaning ‘many sparks’ new album ‘Scintili’ comes with no small amount of baggage. The band’s first album in five years, Plaid have an influential back catalogue which includes a partnership with Bjork.
The construction of the new album has been extremely complex. Plaid – Ed Handley and Andy Turner – claim to chant for two hours every morning, before beginning work in their home studio in North London.
Well, we say ‘home studio’ it is in fact located in a shed…
Laborious work, Plaid have claimed that each beat took an average of one day to construct with the process beginning back in 2009. A statement from the duo claims: “This labour intensive process will guarantee long lasting pieces of music that can withstand the restless tensions placed upon them by modern playback devices”.
Typically, even the packaging of ‘Scintili’ will be complex and inventive. The CD version will be available in a ‘Muda na Mono’ puzzle pack, the name taken from a Japanese phrase meaning ‘pointless object’.
Allowing the packaging to be assembled in different ways, Plaid intend for the physical object to stand as a piece of art in its own right rather than a way to store music.
Plaid are set to release ‘Scintili’ on September 24th. Tracklisting:
1. missing
2. eye robot
3. thank
4. unbank
5. tender hooks
6. craft nine
7. sömnl
8. founded
9. talk to us
10. 35 summers
11. african woods
12. upgrade
13. at last
