18-year-old Pennsylvania based artist Sam Martinsen AKA pluko has been on a meteoric rise to the top since he emerged in the scene a few years ago. pluko caught everyone’s attention with his creative future bass songs and remixes such as breath, and YDU. After sending his album to ODESZA’s label, Foreign Family Collective, pluko signed on becoming the youngest producer to join Foreign Family. In the past few months, pluko has released several songs from his album, including asleep (feat MOONZz), pink, need ya (feat. Nevve), and l o v e, which has shown his ability to be unconstrained by genre barriers. Today pluko has released his debut album with Foreign Family Collective, titled sixteen.
If you don’t have time to listen to the entire album (and I highly recommend that you do), here are a few highlights.
flight
Somewhere between a tropical oasis and high above the softest clouds, pluko manages to embody the mystifying aspect of flight. I had the distinct pleasure of listening to flight for the first time on a plane and it was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever had. It is astounding to hear a piece of music that embodies a sensation, but flight, among other tracks on the album, does that unequivocally.
forgiveness
The most elusive track on the album is titled forgiveness. The jagged sounds that persist throughout the track are constantly phasing in and out relative to the other sounds that give the track its structure. Although it’s unclear as to what the aim of the track is, its general mystery is intriguing enough on its own. The song could be about the process of forgiveness, as it continually builds and diminishes, however it is certainly unclear and open to interpretation.
found
found is a particularly interesting track because the entire song feels like an epiphany. The various melodies in the song come together, slowly building up before ramping up into a frenzy before the drop. pluko uses his expertise in future bass for the drop which has the same sensation as a profound realization. The song then uses chopped vocals and computer processing noises to mellow the song out. As if there were ramifications from the epiphany that was constructed earlier in the track.
Sixteen is an extremely versatile album, stretching in every direction in terms of style, tone, and feel. Every song seems to carry its own sentiment and truly captures a moment or feeling. Each track title embodies the subject of the song in a concise and accurate manner, even for the songs without words or lyrics. It is no wonder that pluko joined the Foreign Family Label. Keep your eyes and ears out to find out what is next for pluko.
“i decided to create an entire movie for the whole duration of sixteen. i couldn’t think of a better way to explain how i felt while writing this album than to take you guys on a drive through my world.”