For the second installment of our Exposure! series, we took Denver band Bleak Plaza into the studio for this free, exclusive MP3 of indie-pop heaven. Bleak Plaza is a four-piece deeply rooted in the city’s indie scene, making them one of our favorite local bands. They take their cues from post-punk heroes like Wire and Gang of Four, thirty years of jangle-inflected indie-pop, and more recent touchstones like The Walkmen.
We couldn’t be happier that Bleak Plaza agreed to head into the studio for this exclusive first music release in our Exposure! series. We gave them free reign to record this single, “Fire the Olfactory,” which bursts out of the gate with a propulsive bass line and a racing tempo. It builds to a big, hooky chorus that’s hard to shake, buzzing and crackling, ripping out of the speakers with melodic energy.
The band said the song is about “smelling something fishy and phony in the music industry, or in life in general, and how you decide to proceed from there: accepting and thus condoning the phoniness, or refusing to accept it and digging deeper for something authentic.” We hope you love it as much as we do!
Give it a listen or download it for free below:
Here are some more photos of Bleak Plaza in action during the recording session.
Shout out to our awesome spring intern, Anthony, for recording and engineering this great track!
About Exposure!
Exposure!, curated by the team here at From the Hip Photo, celebrates visual artists, DJs and musicians, chefs and brewers, comics, makers, and all forms of creative expression. As the name suggests, part of our goal with Exposure! is to provide a spotlight to our friends in the community who are doing things across the cultural spectrum: food, drink, music, visual art–any form of making and creativity.
Each month, we throw a free Exposure! happy hour event to highlight artists, designers, performers, and local organizations from the Denver community.
This track from Bleak Plaza is the first music release under the Exposure! umbrella.
Revisit Exposure! #001, the kick-off party.
In July of 2016, we christened the Exposure! series with the first of our monthly happy hour parties at Fort Greene in Globeville. Check out a recap of all the fun here!
Know someone interested in participating in our Exposure! series? Let us know!