3 out of 5

Label: Hasenbart

Produced by: People Like Us

Oookay, I cheaped out and couldn’t afford the lathe cut prices + shipping to the US, so I’m just checking this out digitally.

“Dreaming”‘s description sounds awesome – versions of White Christmas dubbed over horror film samples, stemming from one of PLU’s live performances. I assume this is an edited take of that – beyond being edited for time, but also chopped and screwed differently as well – because I don’t get much in terms of horror film samples (unless they’re super subtle) and it’s not the widest selection of White Christmases I would’ve hoped. The edits are also a bit more jarring than I’m used to from PLU (like the stitches show; not that the things mashed together are jarring, as that’s to be expected).

It’s still conceptually pretty great, never letting White Christmas get to its chorus and instead, in classic PLU fashion, just repeating one line from the song over some dreamy ambience, but even without the live performance description, it feels like more of a novelty in this format – that is, it leaves a bit on the table.

The digital also comes with The Mirror. The Mirror is an excellent track, and I get the pairing, as its dreamy, wandering base is a good counter for Dreaming, but I think it’s also a bit too deep in that regard; it’s an emotional track from an emotional album, and works really well in that context.

PLU songs as singles are tough, especially from the 2010s era material where the emotional palette starts to get a bit richer.