Plateau Below

Plateau Below is a formidable force of songwriting - the prowess necessary to give new life to a genre while paying it tribute and the vision to take a further step in broadening its horizons is remarkable. - NUVO

Over the past weeks we have enjoyed a sampling of songs like, “Riverside“, and “Clearhead Real“, and today we bring you the full album stream of Still Paradise from Bloomington Indiana's Plateau Below. If those early listens were any indication, the quartet of Logan Carithers, Jared Jones, Jacob Gumbel, and Joseph Creech have already given us some of the year's best sounds. On their upcoming full-length for Jurassic Pop Records, Plateau Below shows us the sonic seasons of change with nods to the golden and modern eras that further solidifies Indiana as an indie music hotbed.

Opener “Eris” eases you in like a high-flying plane soaring above the Midwest's patchwork farm fields and into the ether of a séance hosted by Plateau Below. Then before you know it, they switch things up with the post-doo-wop wild running ode, “Evaline”, flipping back the books 50, or 60 something years. And while the nostalgic detour trip gets you trying to place or pigeonhole, “Riverside” pulls at the heart in a down-and-out narrative that comes from the center core of American popular songwriting. It is the timeless nature of songs like this where Plateau Below couples fatalism with the promise of future, in a mixture of helpless-hopelessness with a chance of help and the possibility of hope. On “Outside The Gates” you can hear the band hitting their stride and sound where the generosity of fun with lyrics is put to a celestial cloud soaring arrangement that even provides lyrical notes on their process: “You'll always find me picking and grinning, and listening for the sounds of the hi-hats ticking (repeat).”

The anthem power high-riser of “Clearhead Real” shows sign of a big stage song that has all the makings of a tour song ready for the festival circuit. A found and gathered sound collage marks the flute propelled interlude, “Lolo Boy” that provides a segue way intro for the clever and creative magic of, “Twiggy”. This where you witness the quick chord change responses and wits of Plateau Below, as they turn inside-out the so-called safety with things that psych-lounge tags alone cannot provide in qualitative and quantitative accounts. “Dying Down” winds down the cycle of Still Paradise with a sentimental blood-letting of built-up and bottled-up emotions that are spilled all throughout the mellow drifting song's warble. Listen closely and softly as the commencing trickle of guitars are met with the sound of running water. One of the best albums of March, 2014 is already here for your ears, followed by a close look at the multi-faced importance of indie Indiana. - Impose Magazine

“To put it lightly, we were fucking blown away—it built on the demos that we liked, and turned them into these huge, powerful pop epics,” Mather said. “But the thing about the full-length that stands out the most to me is how ambitious it is. The whole river theme, the old-time samples, the nearly nine-minute pop masterpiece ‘Twiggy,’ the coupling of up-tempo and down-tempo songs—so many bands could have seriously messed it up, but Plateau Below pulled it off so well.” - Musical Family Tree

Plateau Below is a Bloomington, IN quartet releasing their debut LP, Still Paradise, on March 4th via Jurassic Pop digitally and on 100 limited-edition cassettes. Having been together barely over a year, they layer catchy vocals over traditional rock compositions that capture indie rock in the truest sense. During the recording of the LP, the bass, drums, and rhythm guitars were recorded in live takes giving every track that classic unpolished (in a good way) sound that is lacking in today’s music.

We have the lead single “Clearhead Real.” The song is shining all over with glorious, slightly off-kilter guitars and cracking, yet comforting vocals that take us back 20 years ago during the peak of, arguably, the last great rock movement. It serves as a fantastic introduction to a band just getting started. Give it a spin below. - My Old Kentucky Blog

The sound retains many folk-ish qualities with the vocals being the most distinct aspect of it all. Singer/songwriter Logan Carither’s voice is reminiscent of the stylings of bands like Modest Mouse and Cotton Jones, capable of reaching low lows and high highs, a dynamic instrument that brings the compositions together, not to mention the lyrics which are easy enough after a while to follow along to, and carry messages that anyone may attribute to their own experiences. I kept imagining myself in the middle of a small audience crowded inside a small venue, watching the band rock out live. Despite the current conditions, which were more favorable, that would have been the ideal setting for Plateau Below.

At only 36 minutes, Still Paradise is short, but jam-packed with diversity, with a wide range of instrumentation, styles, and moods. It’s got a little something for everyone. It’s fun, albeit abrasive from time to time. Definitely the kind of weird indie americana music we can hope for in contemporary musicians… 7.8/10 - Violent Success

Plateau Below = Elf Power + Cliffs x Clouds Taste Metallic-era Flaming Lips
“Eris” opens this album with the driving mantras and quiet anxiety you heard from Modest Mouse on the Lonesome and Crowded West, though Plateau keeps it rounded with an almost Syd Barrett-esque psychedelic flourish. Quiet, sharp, impassioned vocals come in on “Riverside,” while the lyrics tell the gut-punching story of a man reduced to living beside a river. The song fills out with a splendid melody augmented by just-bouncy-enough bass and starry guitar strums before the vocals really start to cut, bringing Brand New to mind with a stirring combo of screams and sweetness. I listened, I listened again, I’m still listening. Tracks like “Twiggy” and “Dying Down” bring to mind Animal Collective, but without the big leaps from sanity—it’s smoother, more consistent, without being at all boring. It’s short, but there’s almost no fat. Still Paradise is the best indie album I’ve heard so far this year. –CJ Morgan - Slug Magazine