Plastic Mermaids are at it again with their latest single, "Girl Boy Girl," a cut off their upcoming second album, It's Not Comfortable to Grow. It's a grand, synth-drenched ride that feels as much of the past as ahead of the curve. There's no escaping a particular spice for the 80s analog warmth, multicolor, and that inimitable vintage gleam. Plastic Mermaids twist retro sounds into something personal and vital, landing in a sonic region that's gutsy, romantic, and all their own.
"Girl Boy Girl" vibrates with an unusual emotional current. This isn't an endeavor to go radical or shout a message, but to glow with it. The track unfolds as if the band were sweeping up its listener, inviting them to move through a platform where identity isn't clearly defined and the heart leads the way. It sounded and felt reflective without being brooding, free without being chaotic. The track is exposed and affecting, layered to a point, for the sake of intimacy, without sacrificing clarity. It's in those moments of held-back brilliance, where voice and synth wrap around each other, that you remember why Plastic Mermaids have such a beloved niche.
"Girl Boy Girl" is a mood, a mode, a mirror. It's the sound of a band ever more at one with its own developing art, unafraid of the awkward crouch, and fluent in the language of emotional complexity. If this single is anything to go by, listeners can expect something bold, beautiful, and uncomfortable to come from It's Not Comfortable to Grow. On "Girl Boy Girl," Plastic Mermaids aren't just making a sound, they're painting a feeling, and it sticks around long after the last synth rings out.