Plàsi To Release ‘Foreign Sea’ Album (Out February 4); Watch The Video For “How Do You Know (feat. Aisha Badru)
November 23, 2021 BY Nettwerk
Venturing forth into his imaginary waters, Plàsi—a.k.a. Mikael Bitzarakis—found the inspiration for his sophomore full-length release, Foreign Sea (out February 4 via Nettwerk Records). A semi-concept album of sorts, Foreign Sea, is a journey with Plàsi to a place where one can reflect on “the world we live in, and what actually matters.” Writing gentle pop songs in the tradition of nylon-string pluckers before him (like Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan, Hollow Coves, George Ogilvie, and Cat Stevens), Plàsi used the shift in perspective to push his music to a new realm.
When it came time to lay these new songs down, Plàsi teamed up with Linus Hasselberg and Hannes Hasselberg, the talented Swedish brothers who also helmed the ship on the last two EPs Mystery and Where I Belong. And after getting prepped over Zoom, the trio made plans to record the album in two sessions that would merge Plàsi’s disparate roots: one taking place in Sweden, the other in Greece. “I always wanted to do an album like that,” Plàsi explains. “And I’m stubborn, so I wanted to see it through.”
Adhering to international guidelines and working carefully to keep the group small and the process safe, Plàsi and the Hasselberg brothers recorded an initial session on the scenic island of Gotland in Sweden and then reconvened soon after on the historic region of Peloponnese in Greece. In both places, they set up “pop-up” studios in cozy homes, capturing the unique sounds of their locations: “It was quite the simple set up,” Plàsi says. “We had good microphones, and we had a good room.”
Plàsi handled guitars and vocals, Linus added strings and brass, and Hannes contributed keyboard, piano, and percussion—an inspired musical world-building up between the three of them. And then in Greece, three local musicians joined to add even more texture: Yvonne Melissa on violin, Christos Anastasiadis on clarinet and bagpipe, and Tasos Kofodimos on laouto, a traditional Greek instrument. “We had some beautiful days together,” says Plàsi.
Working remotely, Plàsi developed two songs as duets, including the latest single, “How Do You Know,” which features the beguiling croon of Aisha Badru. “I’m amazed at how well you can do things long-distance, digitally, if you just try it,” Plàsi explains.
The video is directed by Maxime Beauchamp, an award-winning French-Canadian LGBTQ+ director and writer behind the internationally acclaimed short film IRIDESCENCE. Plàsi had this to say about the video: “Maxime saw a perspective through our song that Aisha and I didn’t see when we wrote it. This added dimension gives a deeper meaning to it and shows how the meeting of two art forms can evolve into something bigger than each one on their own.”
“How Do You Know (feat. Aisha Badru)” is available at all digital retailers; click here: https://plasi.ffm.to/howdoyouknow. To presave the album, click here: https://plasi.ffm.to/foreignsea.
2022 Plàsi Tour Dates:
To purchase tickets, please visit plasimusic.com
February 3 Stockholm, Sweden @ Hus 7
February 7 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Ideal Bar
February 8 Berlin, Germany @ Kantine am Berghain
February 9 Hamburg, Germany @ Bahnhof Pauli
February 10 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
February 11 Köln, Germany @ Artheater
February 12 St. Gallen, Switzerland @ Nordklang Festival
February 13 Zürich, Switzerland @ Papiersaal
February 15 Vienna, Austria @ Chelsea
February 16 Prague, Czech Republic @ Chapeau Rouge
February 17 Warsaw, Poland @ BARdzo Bardzo
February 18 Leipzig, Germany @ Neues Schauspiel Leipzig
Track List:
1. Foreign Sea
2. Under My Skin
3. 14 Days
4. My Dear
5. How Do You Know
6. I Wish You Heard Me
7. Far from Home
8. Missing Faith
9. Chasing the Sun
10. All Alone
11. One Last Night
12. Love
13. Until Midnight
