PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS drags you under...and never lets you up for more than a trace of air. Unleashing a defiant mix of intense vocals, aggressive screams and churning guitars that burn and smolder of raw post-hardcore emotion, KNIFE IN THE MARATHON does nothing less than amaze. Recorded during their summer '99 tour, this EP includes five new songs plus an Unbroken cover. If you were hoping to go from PMFS' first record to the next without turbulence, think again. This album is filled with teeth-gritting feeling. And it just never stops...it's relentless. "Screamo" if you will...angry, harsh and growling with layer upon layer of intricate melody that showers down at every turn. Take twenty minutes to decide the outcome for yourself. It will be time well spent.
PMFS does not offer a peaceful, serene ride. More like a trip navigated by roughly worn maps gone gray at the edges and days better not remembered at all. Although it may be encounters with the naked despair of the past that's a theme throughout their music, you can't help but to listen again to the hope that gives it life. Perhaps this compelling portrait of anger found in failure is all too fresh in our experience, as is the wishful anticipation of a better tomorrow and the desire to direct an uncertain future. PMFS loudly stomp and quietly crawl through your heart.
PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS' eponymous debut EP on Deep Elm was critically hailed as one of the best post-hardcore records released in 1999. Through fierce riffs that explode from within the somber lyrics of "Copper and Stars" and descend down into the well of human yearning on songs like "Standing Still Fast," PMFS exposed their souls...relaxing the listener into a fleeting lull only to be disrupted quickly by rage and fury. It's all so good.
Denver-based PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS is Gared O'Donnell (vocal, guitar), Matt Bellinger (guitar, vocal), Jamie Drier (bass) and Mike Ricketts (drums). KNIFE IN THE MARATHON and their self-titled EP were recorded by Brendan Gamble at Private Studio B in Champaign, IL. PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS first appeared on Deep Elm's "The Moment of Truth: The Emo Diaries, Chapter Three."
