THE MYSTERY PLAN is a 5-piece groovy-moody pop band from Charlotte, North Carolina conducted by Jason Herring and fronted
by sensual voice Amy Herring.
They started working together back in 2010 and now, 13 years later they already
released their 7th album named Haunted Organic Machines. A breezy, trippy, and
synth-scintillating record of relaxing pop vibes and candlelight musings. Subtly orchestrated and an ideal companion for reflective moments.
Thanks to main man Jason Herring we can learn more about
the band, their music, and their pretty cool collaborations.
Hello Jason,
Thank you for taking
time for this chat,
How/when was THE MYSTERY PLAN conceived?
“The Mystery Plan came about back in 2010. I had some songs
written but needed help with a good arrangement and recording.
So, I went to long time co-writer/producer Paul Jensen (the Interstellars,
Fetchin’ Bones) at his place, Satellite Recording Studios.
Is there a mysterious story behind the band’s name?
“The name of the band comes from a late-night murder show I was watching.
The narrator of the show said something like,”…and the two set out on their
mystery plan…”. I thought that was great, so I used it.”
You may pick three tracks to introduce the band to music
fans who have never heard of you. Which ones would it be?
. Is every member involved in the songwriting process?
“The songwriting process in our group starts with me coming up with a song idea,
playing it for Amy so she can start with the lyrics, Otis coming up with his bass lines,
then Jeff throws a beat on it, and Patty puts the finishing touches on it with backing
vocals or sometimes flute.
A song or two on every record is just me in the studio, and the band
figures out together how we are going to perform that song live.”
The new – 7th – album is named HAUNTED ORGANIC MACHINES.
What did you want to say/express with it?
“We started writing Haunted Organic Machine‘ during the Covid lockdown, so there are songs on it expressing sadness and frustration. Then, toward the end, and everyone was starting to loosen up a bit, we decided to write something a little more happy, “what a day” came from that.”
Is the album’s artwork related to its title?
What did you want to visualize with it?
“The album art is from a very dear friend and collaborator, Anthony Smith (That Guy Smitty/Muchacho). He did a series of polaroids last year that were pretty amazing.
He let me use a couple of my favorites: HOM cover, and the cover for ‘What A Day EP‘.
Side note, Smitty also made the beats for “What a day (disco).”
The single WHAT A DAY (disco) attracted me to the band. It feels like a bird is flying high in the sky on a Spring morning (actually the whole album feels that way). Did you think of a sort of ‘perfect’ Lou Reed ‘day’ when the song was written?
“What a day” started as something fun a danceable. When I sat down to write the lyrics, I just thought about things I could be happy about. I looked around the studio, out the window, inward, and those lyrics came out.”
The other single BIG BLISS isn’t a happy song and the video doesn’t
look blissful either. What was the idea behind the song and the video?
“Big bliss” is sort of the opposite of “What a day”. Amy was having a hard time with the lockdown, and all of the heartbreaking things she was seeing on the news. But you can
still hear her trying to focus on the things that made her happy, even through all the darkness.”
Suppose the album was the soundtrack
of a movie which one would it be and why?
“Hmmmm…if ‘Haunted Organic Machines’ were a film soundtrack…
that’s a tough one…Blade Runner maybe?…or Breathless(1960 Godard)?
I don’t know.”
Name 2 artists THE MYSTERY PLAN would love to tour with or work with?
“One of the really cool things about the Mystery Plan is that we’ve been able to work with some of our heroes. John Fryer (4AD/This Mortal Coil/ Cocteau Twins/ Love & Rockets/ NIN/ Depeche Mode…), Peter Anderson (the Ocean Blue), Steve Cobby(Fila Brazillia), Ian Masters(Pale Saints/ Isolated Gate), Neil Conte(Prefab Sprout), Micah Gaugh(the Veldt), Jah Freedom, Simon Mills(Bent). But I would really love to work with Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins), and Kruder and Dorfmeister. ”
Does the band play live? If so what’s a MP gig like?
“We play live a lot. Our sets are dreamy, moody, and sometimes a little groovy.”
To me TRUMP (and his party and their fanatic followers) divided the country dangerously. How do you perceive the present chaos following his indictment?
“Fuck Trump. He needs to held accountable for the damage he has done to our country.”
I suppose, as THE MYSTERY PLAN being so prolific for several years,
future musical plans are already on the table. Right?
“We already have a new EP in the works, and many tour dates.”
Thank you Jason for this interview.
May the road rise with The Mystery Plan.
Band: THE MYSTERY PLAN Who: Charlotte-based bliss-pop group fronted by prime voice Amy Herring FFO:St. Etienne, Dead Can Dance, Basement Jaxx, Massive Attack, Sixpence None
The Richer, Thievery Corporation, Solar Fields, Groove Armada, Cinematic Orchestra
TUTV: This collective spoiled my ears for the first time with their previous single What A Day. A breezy, trippy, and jumpy synth-scintillating earworm. And new cut Big Bliss does it again. It’s actually a totally different pulsation. One with an exotic, Eastern, and trancey vibe. I swear, when I heard the tune for the first time (before I saw the video), the image of a female, sensual, veiled Arabian dancer popped up on the screen in my mind. Big bliss is another winner and the accompanied clip visualizes this mysterious groove gracefully and bewitchingly. A bliss, indeed.
Clamorous frontman Alex Edkins of Canadian noise engine Metz and Graham Walsh, keyboardist of dance punks Holy Fuck, got together for a project of their own, named, Noble Rot. They have their debut ‘Heavenly Bodies, Repetition, Control.‘ out next month.
They just dropped first single Casting No Light. A motorik Krautrock-like mindfucker that circles around like forever, pushed by a pumping synth/drum/guitar riff-boom-beat that grows in hypnotic intensity along the way. Fucktastic!
This Scottish dance-funk-punk trio is on an unstoppable roll. Their new, 3rd LP Heavy Heavy is a total triumph (Turn Up The Volume‘s Album of the Month) and their swirling concert in Antwerp (Belgium) blew the roof off the building.
One of the standout tracks on the album isDrum.
A flamboyant, head-over-heels stormer.
The Belgian Gods released their new longplayer How To Replace It?,
their first in 10 years, a couple of weeks ago.
The title song is a phenomenal piece. A mid-tempo stunner, driven by big
drums and frontman Tom Barman‘s bewitching vocality. It advances with
swelling orchestration toward the grand symphonic climax.
The amazing Los Angeles Amazons delivered their
best album (so far) Islands In The Sky only last Friday.
The title track is a blissful guitar-pop earworm that sticks from the get-go
with Bonnie Bloomgarden‘s spell-binding vocals inviting you to her island of joy.
I’m on my way. Join me.
You’re in charge of your perception of your life
You can choose what you keep
And what you leave behind
This Seattle-based Cyberpunk duo – Wesley and Jewels Foster – nailed it with this arousing mid-tempo, electro-drum-beat-driven knockout from their upcoming full length World’s End. It’s sexy, catchy, trippy, and makes your blood pumping through your heart.
Newest single Scatterbrain is a riff-roaring rocker that grows on your ears
with every spin. It has a moody, shoegazy resonance annex reflective vocals.
Striking stroke. Bring on the album.
This fresh high-energetic trio features members from Shudder To Think, Guided By Voices and The Dambuilders.
Their self-titled debut LP will see the day of light on 17 March.
What If? is a freaked-out, riff-drunk sucker punch that could
easily come from a Hüsker Dü LP. Herky-jerky electricity with
a steamrollin’ sticky chorus. Wowzers.
This dark-Goth-wave duo from the City of Angels look like vampires,
they sound like vampires and they fabricate vampirish stuff.
The torrid tandem unleash their
new album KRYPT on 28 April.
Ahead of the release, to get us in the right make-up mood, they hit us
with first single I Expire. A punked-up electro uppercut to set batcaves
on fire with. One listen and the brisk beats will haunt you all day long.
In the accompanying video, Male Tears get straight in
your scared face and suck you into their wicked world.
His new song is a groovy love-drunk gem featuring the sensuous voice
of his ex-partner. It gets under your skin from the kick-off. Two spins and
you’re hooked.
NECRØ is the latest project of Portuguese musician João Vairinhos
featuring idiosyncratic singer and keyboard player Sara Inglês,.
The title track of their 6-track EPDeath Beats
is Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite.
A dark-techno-wave rumbling that stomps and whomps with intense
impetus doing your head in from the get-go. Doomed beats for twilight parties.
The tenebrous vibe at play here sends shivers down your spine, while Sara Inglês‘s
ghostly wailing is reminiscent of shadowy Siouxsie Sioux moments.
This Charlotte-based collective seduced my sensitive ears with the title track of
their 3-track EP What A Day. The harbinger for upcoming 7th LP ‘Haunted Organic Machines’.
Feel-good tunes like these are always welcome on my headphones. What A Day is
a breezy synth-scintillating vibration that triggers sensual body moves. Its featherlight tonality causes a dreamy state of mind with trancy tinglings. And when that sweet flute came on, I swear, I saw a Spring bird flutter in the blue sky.
I’ll be a pretty special one as the pair wrote a collection of bilingual duets, with both of them singing in English and Spanish and explore a variety of European music cultures. First single Lonely Town is a sweet, little pop ditty. You can sing/hum/whistle along.
17. ‘I Remember What You Said’ by Artist: DYAN VALDÉS (Cuban-American)
(Photo credit: Petra Valdimardottir)
This Cuban-American singer-songwriter, living in Berlin, played/plays
in several bands and works as a solo artist too and has now a new single
out, named I Remember What You Said.
It follows her last year’s excellent debut album Stand.
The pretty poppy song is about a nightmarish memory of a poisonous
relationship. With its agitated words-flowing drive it feels like Valdés
wants to wash away all the BS and move on. Mission accomplished.
Summit Of The Big Low is the moniker of British musician Toby Uffindell-Phillips,
who was a member of the early 00s folktronica group Sound Sanctuary.
This new piece, from his self-titled album out on 19 May, is an affecting folk-pop reverie that streams as a brisk brook. Sparkling, crystal clear, and glimmering in the sun. Its wistful tone, smooth vocals, and frisky finger-picking guitar play combine for a sweet little pearl.
This 4-piece from Nashville produces a mix of metal, opera & 80’s rock.
Their new single Prisoner is about being captured and trapped by someone’s love.
It’s a mid-tempo power ballad that slowly but surely infiltrates your ears with its
anthemic dynamics, impassioned vocals, and weeping guitars.
This musical project started in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2014 and presents a soundscape based on electronic backgrounds and a more classic rock instrumentation blended with mellotrons, vibraphone, santur, harmonium and other alluring sounding instruments. In short, atmospheric psychedelic darkness with occult undertones.
New single: WHAT A DAY.
The title track from the new 3-track EP, the harbinger for
upcoming 7th LP ‘Haunted Organic Machines’. Stream here.
TUTV: Feel-good tunes like these are always welcome on my headphones. What A Day is a breezy, trippy, and jumpy synth-scintillating earworm that
triggers sensual body movements. Its featherlight vibe causes a dreamy
state of mind with trancy tinglings. And when that sweet flute came on, I
swear, I saw a Spring bird flutter in a blue sky. As late genius Lou Reed once
sung, it’s aperfect day.
Who: Dream pop quintet from Charlotte, North Carolina formed in 2010 producing moody folk, post punk, sometimes electronic, sometimes cellos. Sort of sorry and glad together.
Track: BALLAD OF JC QUINN – new single from their upcoming fifth albumZsa Zsa
out next week, 3 April – J.C. Quinnwas an actor from NYC with many films and television credits, including ‘Barfly’, ‘the Abyss’, ‘Visionquest’ and countless others. The band’s main man Jason Herring was a friend of Quinn: “JC and I struck up a nice friendship. He was a fan of ours and would come to shows and stand right up front so we could see him. A very lovely man indeed. Sadly, JC died in Mexico while shooting a film a few years ago. I’ve always wanted to pay tribute to him, and we have finally done so with this song.”
Score: This graceful humdinger takes you instantly to fantasyland where you can lose yourself and ignore reality for a while. Exotic sounding bongos, warm organ touches, glimmering guitars, playful string fragments and moony vocals massage your mind
gently and the overall romantic orchestration is a soothing caress for your ears and
will make your eyes twinkle. Sit down, lit the candles and relish.
