Hyper Plastic
EP
Novoton
Opening with the wryly constructed "Ron Asheton's loafers", Hyper Plastic, the electronic solo project of former This Perfect Day guitarist Rickard Johansson, establishes what we can expect from the EP - clever arrangements of simple melodies, a mess of blips and bloops entwined with Johansson's guitar work, driving electronic drums, and coolly detached vocals. One can't but hear elements of "Punk rocker"-era Teddybears throughout the EP, even in its most inspired moments for at the core of Hyper Plastic is a need to channel angular punk energy down the darkest of pop-saturated avenues. As "Love & hate" demonstrates, Johansson has a fantastic understanding of atmosphere and mood (favoring the brooding kind), and utilizes this awareness to elevate his compositions just clear of being dismissed as merely simplistic distortion-tinged pop songs. That said, the cynical charm of Hyper Plastic starts to lose some of its appeal after a few listens -- though, in all honesty, this fate awaits the vast majority of four-track EPs. I'm curious to see what Johansson could do with more time.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
