Plazas, aka Vancouver-Toronto transplant Savana Salloum, has given us the first listen/look at her new single "The Observatory" off her upcoming debut LP. Since releasing her 2015 EP Empathy, Salloum has been warming herself up to the Toronto music scene and writing her full-length. For the video, she teamed up with her friend Kuba Rygal from MARY, who she had always wanted to collaborate with.
"Since we both make music of our own the obvious choice was to collaborate on a video. We both thought it was important to create a video that captured the vibe of the song. The song itself has a strong narrative (The Observatory is essentially about looking at the past from a distance and not being able to change it) so we wanted to create a dreamy visual with a nod to some of our favourite film motifs." – Plazas
With "The Observatory", Plazas continues to achieve dark pop bliss: a jagged, arpeggiated bass line is complemented by a feathery and warping lead, hard hitting but reverb-laden percussion, and perfectly forlorn vocals. Salloum's wonderfully deadpan voice is nestled comfortably in the mix and infuses the track with a shadowy dreaminess as she plays with her arrangements and subverts the expectations that she builds. The video being a nest egg of film references gives one the option of engaging more with what they're watching and not only spotting them but making the connections between them and the music. Both the song and video have a Lynchian feel, and by that I mean a strange and effective pairing of detachment and earnestness. One of my favorite things to do in pre-Halloween excitement is dance to some good dark electronic music, and Plazas has given us plenty to dance to.
Keep a look out for Plazas' LP Distant Desires in 2018.
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