Plush | Sheer Power

I just purchased one of the limited-edition 300 cassettes of Bay Area band Plush’s latest EP Please, due out April 29 via Father/Daughter Records. Mostly, I made the purchase on the strength of their streaming single, “Sheer Power”, a gigantic piece of fuzzed-out sonic bliss, before indulging in their one-word titled back catalog: Pale (2014) and Pine (2015). “Sheer Power” builds off light ambient guitar, rising into a tower of layered guitar noise that’s as sensual as it is substantial. Early in the song, lead singer and guitarist Karli Helm (formerly of The Sweethearts) sings with an inching timidity and fragility that goes hand-in-hand with the vulnerability expressed in the first verses. But that doesn’t last for long as the song takes a turn: “Untangle my body like thread in a loom / Take me hastily, or write it off / Right now it’s none or all / I have the sheer power of knowing I still haunt you when I’m gone.” Plush is a San Francisco four-piece featuring members from The She’s. Guitarist Eva Treadway and bassist Sinclair Riley are active members of The She’s and they’re teamed up with Helm and drummer Dylan. The band’s sound will cause some shoegaze faithful to think of groups like Slowdive or My Bloody Valentine. — David D. Robbins Jr.