Plants & Animals are a Montreal-based trio, consisting of guitarist/vocalists Warren Spicer and Nic Basque, and drummer/vocalist Matthew Woody Woodley. They have announced their first album in four years’ time. Entitled The Jungle, the self-produced record is set for release on 23 October.

House On Fire, a driving track peppered with bits of synth-y chaos, is the album’s new single. It combines indie and post-rock the way bands like my beloved Public Service Broadcasting do. Meanwhile, the vocals and harmonies immediately bring Talking Heads to mind.

The song was inspired by Spicer’s concern for a friend of his. The band explain: “We started working on this a couple of years ago. Warren was afraid for a friend’s health. He thought he was self-medicating too much and not taking care of himself. He couldn’t let go of this image of an overworked dude swallowing too many sleeping pills and falling asleep with the stove on. So it began as the place next door, sometime before Greta Thunberg turned the expression into a rallying cry, where Earth is the house and the people are sleeping. It’s terrifying, and on the whole we’re not unlike this friend, are we?”

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Werner Schlosser

Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.