Pluramon – The Monstrous Surplus

Pluramon gets even more pop with THE MONSTROUS SURPLUS, expanding his vocalists beyond the inimitable Julee Cruise. She appears on the soft "Turn In" and the throttling "Drowning in You." "Snow Bow" is pure shoegaze, something that could have come off of late-80s 4AD. Julia Hummer does a fine job on the brightly romantic "Border" and the hazy "If Time Was On My Side." But Jutta Koether's spoken word on the art-rock "Fresh Authebung" doesn't too much, however, (it works better on the fuzzed-out "So?") and the psychedelia on "K-Land" also misses the mark. "Can't Disappear" strips things down to mostly strings, piano and vocals, however, and it has a quiet elegance to it, and "Fishing" has an instrumental grace. So even if it doesn't quite hit the same highs, it does offer some musical surplus.