Alt-indie duo Plastic Barricades experiment in style and sound

London alt-indie duo Plastic Barricades released ‘Optimist’ earlier this month ahead of the band’s second album titled Self-Theories’.

With Dan Kert on guitar, keyboards and vocals and Paul Love on drums Plastic Barricades are romantic and honest, gloomy and curious and melodic and melancholic.

Inspired and influenced by an almighty variety of British artists from Radiohead to Foo Fighters, Oasis to Death Cab for Cutie and Placebo to Snow Patrol the band loves to experiment with styles, sound and approach.

The new single ‘Optimist’ delves into a range of different melodies and beats throughout the four-minute 30-second track. Dan’s vocal tone fluctuates as he discusses topical issues.

The song is accompanied by a DIY music video, featuring eight houses, eight cars, plenty of glassware, some benches and trees, a crowd of exactly 300 cast members and around 20 buckets of water.

Featured images by Elina Pasok

The band said in a statement: “Optimism is all about seeing the way forward through what may seem like a hopeless situation. Australia is on fire, the Amazon is burning, the seas are rising, air is polluted and dumps are full. But being pessimistic isn’t going to help.

“We can’t blame each other and point fingers. We have to make our own decisions. Human beings can have some terrible instincts – but we aren’t our instincts. We are our choices. Pessimism is choosing defeat, choosing not to act, choosing to accept the situation. We’ve made this mess.

“We need to clean it up. It starts and ends with us.”

Watch the video for ‘Optimist’ below and leave an ICM Rating out of 10 via the ICM Hub.

*The music video for the single, created by PB art-director Elina Pasok, was filmed in a bedroom. None of the 300 cast members were harmed during the shoot, however, one house and one car were destroyed in the end.