Four songs. 20 Minutes playtime. That does not really sound like a true Prog EP, does it? Yet Thank You Scientist manage to pack these 20 minutes with fantastic arrangements, great vocals and interesting musical ideas.
When one thinks about Thank You Scientist the string and brass sections come to mind immediately, as well as Salvatore Marrano’s distinct vocals. The new EP called Plague Accommodations, of course, has all of this and more. It opens with the just under two minutes instrumental song ”Gigglebutton”, which will instantly make the listener feel at home. The jazzy saxophone and the complex drumming show once again, how incredibly good every single instrumentalist is on their respective noise-maker-device.
”Creature Comfort” gives off a very loungey vibe at first, but then follow a decisively different direction once the guitars really set in. The song could be right off their last full-length album Terraformer. There are simply too many details within in the arrangement of every song, that just one listen certainly does not suffice to grasp the whole picture, as it true is for most of their songs. Hell, even twenty spins won’t be enough for that purpose.
If you should crave a higher tempo, harder hitting drums and some groovy saxophone ”Soul Diver” might be the song for you. It is a very intense song, which definitely earns this big band the badge of Progressive Metal. Faye Fadem’s drums are fast, intricate and just fun to listen to. They also sound amazing just like the rest of the band, which speaks volumes for the production of Plague Accomodations.
The EP closes with the titular ”Plague Accommodations”. What can I say about this song, that has not been mentioned before? It leaves the listener with the wish for a new Thank You Scientist-full length much sooner than a little later. This well-calculated madness is just so much fun. One can just hope, that they release a new album next year, because 20 minutes of new music can only serve as an appetizer and not fill the whole stomach.
