MPTL Microplastics

MPTL Microplastic's debut single is a tribute to Derek Jarman, a eulogy to the artist's ongoing garden, a recommitment to the 'patron saint of lost causes', & a paean to the 'wilderness of failure' that is Dungeness. Derek Jarman died on on the 19th of February 1994, two weeks before the 'lent lillies' were likely to have bloomed again. Jarman wrote in his diary 'I'm holding my breath, like the weather, for the first daffodil...[to] flare into life and illuminate the spring.' Since Derek died, they got rid of time & 'curdled all the seasons into one.' Now only in Dungeness does the winter not retreat before it's time and leaves the lent lillies to shake in cold anticipation of their flowering. We hold our breath - in silence - for his return, & then like the incandescent chorus of the decommissioned power plant, we start to make a sound.

Fast rising London noiseniks MTPL Microplastics announce their debut single Plastic Princess, which in the words of vocalist Joey Hollis is "a tribute to Derek Jarman, a eulogy to the artist's ongoing garden, a recommitment to the 'patron saint of lost causes', & a paean to the 'wilderness of failure' that is Dungeness."

The song perfectly showcases the band's omnivorous approach to music - lurching and crashing without ever settling into a solid groove over seven-and-a-half minutes of art-damaged English folk guitar, delicate-to-devastating vocals, haunting ambiance, a snaking stringline that recalls Scarlett Rivera's work on Bob Dylan's Desire and drums from the Soft Machine school of jazzlike understatement.

Sonically reminiscent of Swans at their most mellifluous or Siouxsie and The Banshees at their most epic, the song exists firmly outside of the current spectrum of post-punk indebted British indie music and stands on its own, clawing back into various musical traditions and pulling up something radically new. The 7-piece are known for their raucous live performances supporting cult heroes such as Jim E. Brown and Pink Eye Club at sold out shows across London, honing themselves into a formidable live unit - captured by producer and engineer Armando Gonzalez Sosto on the single.

MPTL Microplastics are:

Joey Hollis - vocals 

Amelia Blackwell - vocals, acoustic guitar, piano 

Bella Shannon - synthesiser, vocals 

Dan Powley - electric guitar 

Alfie Cherry - bass guitar 

Alex Duncalf - cello, piano 

James Hawdale - drums

The group will be launching the single at a free all-day show at the Engine Rooms on Saturday 23rd November with support from Agata, Frank Lloyd Wleft, Wheel 2, Kasper Hauser and Jaw Harp.