Big Stir Records can now, at long last, return to our earliest beginnings by announcing a new release by the very first band signed to the label over nine years ago. The mighty PLASTICSOUL roars back with the new single “J'adore” and their much-missed pan-California blend of power pop and glam rock fully intact. The first preview track from the band's long-awaited new album soon to be announced for release this Winter, “J'adore” is out September 25 on all digital platforms worldwide and up for preorder and pre-save now:
https://orcd.co/plasticsoul-jadore
PLASTICSOUL, anchored as always by the vocal firepower of songwriter and guitarist STEVEN WILSON, makes their return in the quintessential lineup that delivered the band's beloved and widely acclaimed third album THERAPY: Wilson backed by bassist Marc Bernal, drummer Steven Markowitz and guitarist Daniel Conrad. Formed in LA and now split between Northern and Southern California, the four piece edition has continued to bring its blazing live show to stages in its home state and abroad in the years since their last album, and the same chemistry that fuels those shows is also at the core of the new material. PLASTICSOUL is a band that seems to rock ever harder with age, but never loses sight of the melodic magic that's been there since the beginning. The roots reach down into the strain of British rock running from The Beatles through Echo & The Bunnymen to Oasis (with a healthy dose of Big Star folded in), but they've pushed ever closer to the big beats and brazen boogie of premium grade glam rock, and it suits them wonderfully.
As the first preview (and opening track) of the forthcoming album, “J'adore” serves as both a mission statement and a sharp reminder of what makes PLASTICOUL so vital. It opens with a thunderous double snare-and-guitar hit followed by... okay, look, every pop rock press release promises “indelible hooks” and “instant earworms,” but the “woo woo” vocal melody and unison snarling guitar lead here are the real deal; just hit “play” and hear for yourself. From there, the band are off to the rock and roll races, all driving rhythms and wild, French-peppered lyrics promising the best of times: “You want me, I want you more / Let your pride fall to the floor / Dance Les Bouffons ‘til we’re sore.”
Wilson, a lyricist with a gift for the transcendently absurd (and the absurdly transcendent), explains the song's genesis: “I started learning French a few years back. I had a vision of a guy walking around France trying to pick up women in terrible, broken, beginner French and getting shutdown hilariously at every turn. Like the Steve Martin/Dan Akroyd, 'Wild and Crazy Guys' characters from '70s Saturday Night Live – only in French.” “J'adore” was thus “born of bad French and comedy,” Wilson adds, but what comes across is unbridled rock and roll abandon: the protagonist's belief in his own chances are more than enough to push the song into genuinely euphoric territory. And while PLASTICSOUL's new album is rife with moving moments and more than a little sly social commentary, it also repeatedly offers up that primal, celebratory energy with rare generosity and sincerity. It just might be the best reminder you've heard all year of what rock and roll is really about, and it all starts here. Stand by for the official album announcement... your radio spaceship awaits.
Expected release: September 25, 2026