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Splinter Premiere “Plastic Rose” Video; Filthy Pleasures Due Sept. 3

Posted in Bootleg Theater on August 6th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

SPLINTER by Lupus Lindemann

Amsterdam classic heavy rockers Splinter release their debut album, Filthy Pleasures, Sept. 3 through Robotor Records. The band played their first show in Oct. 2019 and at that point had already offered up a few hints of what was to be their trajectory on early singles like Hurt b/w Brand New Future (discussed here) or the subsequent pairings of Bitter Sounds b/w Robothell and Hold My Leash b/w Take No More, pressed to a series of 7″ vinyls ahead of appearing as more than half of the 10 tracks here. And the pleasures throughout the 33-minute release? Well, just because they’re filthy doesn’t mean they can’t be fun. Whether it’s the penultimate “Hurt” bringing bruiser energy to side B — despite the vocal harmonies; trust me, it makes sense by the time you get there — or “Hold My Leash” with its unambiguous advocacy of strangulation play and sundry other kink earlier on, Filthy Pleasures feels intended in part to pick up where vocalist Douwe Truijens and guitarist Sander Bus left off in Death Alley, but with Birth of Joy organist Gertjan Gutman making major contributions on Hammond throughout and drummer Barry van Esbroek (ex-Vanderbuyst) propelling the entirety or near enough to it, the place Splinter inhabit owes aesthetic debt to the heavy ’70s and the heavy ’10s alike, but creates its own vitality from the moment “Robothell” opens to the very last cacophony of “Brand New Future.”

Because it needs to be said, I’ll say it: Mk. II-era Deep Purple. There. Glad we got that out of the way. I’m sorry, but you put a Hammond in a rock band and set to careening as Splinter do on “Robothell,” and someone’s bound to bring up the classic British rockers, and it’s one more element that Splinter seems content to toy with, with Truijens perhaps nodding at Ian Gillan with the half-screamed wail he pushes out at the beginning of “Hurt” (the end of “Read My Mind” comes close as well). Since the band ticked the cowbell/woodblock box first thing — literally — I had been waiting for such a shout, and they save it for late, but that works well with the two-sided trajectory of Filthy Pleasures as a whole, the tracklisting dividing into even, purposeful five-song Splinter Filthy Pleasures halves, each suited to its own purpose while working in conversation with the other, the sub-three-minute burst of “Robothell” clearly intended to set a tone for the uptempo, catchy, electric and melodic heavy rock and roll that is so central to Splinter‘s intention all the while. “Bitter Sounds” builds on this with a strong hook, handclaps, starts and stops and a babe-it’s-a-cold-world-but-you’re-so-hot danceable swagger that is only pushed further in “Hold My Leash,” as the following “Splintermission” finds the keys working alone for a two-minute stretch, working up from soundtracky minimalism to nearer-to-church-but-for-the-scratch fare as a lead-in for the softer guitar at the outset of “Plastic Rose.”

A title-track by any other name, “Plastic Rose” nestles into a mellower groove than did the full-boar launch salvo, but its more crafted feel and focus on melody is foreshadow ahead of what side B unfurls, with “Read My Mind” complementing the pace of “Robothell” but even through that working with a shifted vocal arrangement, a gruff verse offset by one of Filthy Pleasures‘ most resonant hooks, cleanly, clearly delivered. “Something Else” adjusts the balance from guitar to organ and backs the straightforward structure of the song before — Splinter aren’t in a hurry on these shorter cuts in a compositional sense, but they do execute with a fitting urgency, proto-punk in its root like 1975 deciding that ’69-’74 just weren’t quite fast enough — but the shift in “Take No More,” an early whistle and more immediately-arriving vocal harmonies, clever verse structure and sans-drum emergent swirl is a marked departure from everything that precedes, which is all the more highlighted by the face-punch of “Hurt” that follows. But if “Plastic Rose” and “Take No More” demonstrate how quiet Splinter can or are willing to get at this point and “Hurt” is an apex in the cardiovascular sense, the methods are united through the quality of the underlying writing and the melodies that pervade. For as rough and tumble as “Hurt,” or “Hold My Leash” for that matter, get, Splinter remain conscious of bringing the listener into the song via melodic. “Something sweet,” they might put it.

Fair enough. “Brand New Future” rounds out after “Hurt” not so much to bring Filthy Pleasures back to ground as to push it over the edge. By its halfway point, it’s touched on psychedelia, but the foundation they’re working from is more raw and I’ll allow the context of members’ past outfits in drawing that line; hearing it because you expect to hear it, etc. However, coming through plainly throughout these tracks is that whatever aspects or mission parameters Splinter might have inherited, this is a new band beginning its own exploration of sound. A mix, then, of past, present and future that draws from all of them, and does so with a clarity of vision that comes across as so very, very ready for the stage. A stage. Any stage. The cliché designation for that vibe is “hungry.” Fine. I wouldn’t be surprised though if Splinter have other kinds of gluttony in mind.

“Plastic Rose,” with its love-story lyrics and zombie-themed video, premieres below. Some comment from Truijens follows, as well as the Filthy Pleasures preorder link.

Please enjoy:

Splinter, “Plastic Rose” video premiere

Douwe Truijens on “Plastic Rose”:

The video shows the shattering of dreams and the illusion of perfection, a utopian pretend that will sooner or later be dismantled. It’s about the unavoidable and irreversible killing of innocence – which, as we can see, can bear great entertainment value in and of itself. In fact, it’s a strong driving force in life, as both the illusion and its shattering are the filthy pleasures that force us through the night.

Play with honey and your fingers will get sticky, no matter how hard you try to avoid that. “Plastic Rose” is about the swirl of lust, pretention, masks on and off, and eventual satisfaction and fulfillment. All that wrapped in a song that is as catchy and sweet as the game of love itself.

Album preorder: https://www.robotorshop.com/robde/splinter.html

Splinter’s new single “Plastic Rose” is out today. Splinter’s debut album “Filthy Pleasures” will be released on 03.09.2021.

Recorded & mixed by Igor Wouters at Amsterdam Recording Company
Mastered by Attie Bauw at Bauwhaus
Featuring Janneke Nijhuijs

Directed by Jeroen de Vriese, JAYDEE Video
Video Camera & light: Kris Vandegoor

Starring Silke Becu

Make-up and styling: Stefanie Vervaet, Audrey Anouk Deswert, Nina Shikako

Costumes courtesy of ViaVia

Automobiles courtesy of Ernst Noldus, Job van de Zande, Aalst-Waalre APK

Special thanks to Robrecht van Steen

Splinter is:
Douwe Truijens – vocals
Sander Bus – guitar
Gertjan Gutman – organ
Barry van Esbroek – drums

Splinter website

Splinter on YouTube

Splinter on Instagram

Splinter on Facebook

Robotor Records on Facebook

Robotor Records on Instagram

Robotor Records on Bandcamp

Robotor Records website

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