Still House Plants at Rozz-Tox -- March 26.
Wednesday, March 26, 8 p.m.
Rozz-Tox, 2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL
With the 2024 release of If I Don't Make It, I Love U inspiring The Guardian to call its creators "the most vital band in Britain today," the London-based, experimental, post-punk, art-rock outfit Still House Plants brings their national tour to Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on March 26, The Guardian adding of last year's breakout hit, "We will be blessed indeed if we get a better album from these shores all year."
As stated at AllMusic.com, "Experimental British rock trio Still House Plants build their sparse and evocative sound by layering the warping vocals of Jess Hickie-Kallenbach, the fractured guitar lines of Finlay Clark, and insistent drum patterns of David Kennedy. After building their ideas with early works like 2017’s Assemblages and 2020’s Fast Edit, the group received significant critical acclaim with their third studio LP, 2024's If I Don’t Make It, I Love U.
"Having met at Glasgow’s School of Art in 2013, musicians David Kennedy, Jess Hickie-Kallenbach, and Finlay Clark soon struck up a musical chemistry, forming the band Your Hair Cut during their second year of studies. Soon rebranding as Still House Plants -- a fusion of the group’s first gig titled 'singing for our house plants,' and New York collective Still House Group -- the trio issued their first EP with 2016’s Still House Plants, released on Glasgow-based cassette tape label GLARC. Delivering sparse and discordant ballads like 'Warm in the Car' and 'Obi/Lowe’s,' the group’s intimate and experimental sound developed further on their 2017 EP Assemblages (once again on GLARC) and on their debut album Long Play, issued on Bison in 2018. Following a residency at London venue Cafe OTO, the group issued their sophomore album, Fast Edit, which featured throatier vocals and a more jazz-led set of instrumental patterns. In 2024, the group picked up significant critical attention with their third LP, If I Don’t Make It, I Love U. Breaking their monochromatic aesthetic with a bold orange '3' on its cover, the group’s third set saw them refine their vital sound even further."
In a review of If I Don't Make It, I Love U, Stereogum named it album of the week, with the site's Joshua Minsoo Kim writing that the recording "finds the group aiming for a more robust sound," and calling "Sticky" a "tremendous showcase of the band's cohesion". Hayley Scott of The Quietus, meanwhile, felt that the band "embrace, not shun, sounds absorbed from childhood in working-class environments" including "skeletal post-rock with soul and jazz, deconstructed by a presiding impulse to blur lines between terms or genres."
Still House Plants brings their national tour to Rock Island on March 26 with an additional set by the Midwestern talents of True Commando, admission to the 8 p.m. all-ages concert is $10-15, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)200-0978 and visiting RozzTox.com.
