Plastic Bouquet

Songlines readers of a certain vintage and musical proclivity will recall It’s a Beautiful Day, a San Francisco- based folk-rock band who had a minor FM radio hit, ‘White Bird’, in the late 1960s. The song was distinguished by effervescent lead vocals and harmony singing courtesy of Pattie Santos and band founder David LaFlamme. Plastic Bouquet, the debut album by Canadian alt-folk duo (and cousins) Kacy Anderson and Clayton Linthicum and New Zealander Marlon Williams, resonates with a similar psychedelic vibe, as well as myriad influences ranging from country & western and rockabilly to Motown. On ‘Light of Love’, Anderson’s tremolo-laden soprano voice and Linthicum’s lower register crooning meld with softness in a song that conjures up the sunny, idealistic naivety of the hippie ethos.

The mood shifts to a sombre, reflective, heavy-on-the-reverb groove on ‘Arahura’, an evocation of a prominent New Zealand river. ‘Old Fashioned Man’ bends with steel guitar lines while oozing south-western charm. The title-track follows a two- stepping bluegrass path to tell the story of a young man who perished in a traffic accident. Plastic Bouquet features clever songwriting and a compelling blend of acoustic and electric instrumentation all wrapped up in a fragrant arrangement, which doesn’t feel the least bit artificial.