Sometimes you like a song because the music is catchy or it’s a great production or it has a great video.
“Optimist” by Plastic Barricades (Dan Kert & Paul Love) has all these things plus something I look for in a song – insightful, clever lyrics that bring you right into the heart of the song.
For some true music lovers (and songwriters, too, like me), we don’t just want to ‘hear’ the lyrics & watch the video but we want to read them & feel them deep inside ourselves to truly appreciate the song. The best songs are written soul to soul.
There is an art in crafting the perfect word or phrase expressed as a musical idea – bonus points if the writer includes prosody as well. Proso-what? Here is a good article on prosody:
https://www.guitarworld.com/acoustic-nation/acoustic-nation-songwriting-steps-power-prosody
The Plastic Barricades prove their prowess with prosody (yes alliterations work well, too) in “Optimist”. Did I mention how lush, full, catchy and well-produced the song is and how great the video is, too? You can’t just listen once – you want it on repeat because it hits a pleasure spot in that musical place in your brain that wants more.
The video features 8 houses, 8 cars, plenty of glassware, some benches and trees plus a crowd of 300 cast members and about 20 buckets of water.
You need to watch it to see why they needed so much water:
“Find the light; don’t curse the darkness” sums up Plastic Barricades’ “Optimist”. It’s their 2nd single from their upcoming LP, “Self-Theories” (which is a GREAT album title by the way. We all look at the world in each our own quirky way to develop our own theories on life).
We see/hear everything being thrown at us, mash it all up in our minds and decide for ourselves which theories work for us and which ones don’t and the ones we choose become the beacons to guide our way.
“We are survivors by design” rings so true as we forge our path forward and struggle to remain true to ourselves in a world that barrages us with words and images flying at us in nanoseconds all day long. We have an instinct to survive – it’s biological and ingrained in all of us.
Sometimes we miss so much of what life has to offer before we learn the lesson: “what if you could find pleasure in the journey?”. Optimistic outlook on life and being dedicated to always learning/ always trying something new. That’s where the pleasure is found – and some would say the meaning of life, too.
“Optimist” was written, recorded & mixed in a backyard Shed Studio in North-West London & mastered by Andy “Hippy” Baldwin at Metropolis Studios in 2019. The music video was created by PB art-director Elina Pasok & filmed in a bedroom. “None of the 300 cast members were harmed on the shoot” so they claim…
Like what you hear – find them here:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4XMzKbdDQLpa36cYrISsO7?si=rvG0Hj_qSY-wfr5WHC1kZg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plasticbarricades/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plasticbarricades
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/plasticbarricades
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHOLEtYj7oM
Check out their website for more great music – and read the raving reviews, too: http://www.plasticbarricades.eu/
The Music Files 