Scott Guild Shares Immersive Debut LP 'Plastic: The Album'

Musician and writer Scott Guild shares his innovative, immersive debut LP, Plastic: The Album, out now via North Street Records, a label in partnership with The Orchard and Sony Music, along with track "Lightning." 

The album is the musical component of his unique book-and-album project, which includes his acclaimed debut novel, Plastic, out now via Penguin Random House. This summer Guild will embark on a second wave of national touring for the project (for a total of 25+ shows this year), including an official release show tonight at the iconic Green Apple Books in San Francisco, the city's largest bookstore. The event can be livestreamed on YouTube via this link. Find a full list below with additional dates to be announced.

Plastic is set in a future world of plastic figurines, and the album tells the story of the novel through a cycle of dynamic art-pop songs. Stranger Cat (a frequent collaborator of Sharon Van Etten and Sufjan Stevens) stars on the record, singing in the voice of Erin, embodying her struggles. While many of the tracks use lyrics from the musical numbers in the book (where the figurines break into song), the tracks also branch off in their own directions, expanding the plastic universe of the story. “All my life, I’ve been obsessed with art that pushes boundaries,” Guild says of telling a story through music and prose, “especially boundaries of genre and format. I love art that creates an immersive world, that lets me lose myself in someone’s vision. That’s my hope with Plastic: to find new ways to tell a story, to put people in a vivid space of imagination." For more about this, read Guild's own account of creating the album on the prominent book site Literary Hub.

The album is a collaboration between Guild and the visionary artist Cindertalk (Son Lux, My Brightest Diamond), as well as the GRAMMY-winning producer Peter Katis (The National, Sharon Van Etten). Together, the novel and album create an unparalleled multimedia storytelling experience, both a love story and an exploration of urgent contemporary themes. As NPR's Beth Golay notes, "With climate change, gun violence, and nuclear fallout, this dystopian comedy looks eerily similar to our world."

Cindertalk shares that he has a deep personal connection to the project, and particularly the song "Lightning": "I met my life partner when we were both recovering from trauma and each facing an uncertain future, so the story of Erin and Jacob deeply resonated with my own life. I’ve always thought of 'Lightning' as “a gentle pulse of love in a time of war.” Scott’s line, “This is where love found me,” is one of those lyrical gifts that don’t come around too often. It jumped off the page: a beautiful hook, a deep truth."

Stranger Cat felt a similar deep connection to the album, and adds, "I felt into my heart space and my own life's experience, and I let it come through my body as if those words were my very own. That's what's really important to me; that's where connection lives. Humanity lives within the story, words and sounds." 

Throughout the recording process, the collaborators stayed aware of the book's unique narrative world, and tried to match this world in the album's sonics. Cindertalk says, "We knew we didn’t want to make a contemporary sounding album. We didn’t want something that felt like it was fixed in the sound world of 2024. Instead, from sonics to beats, we tried to find something that felt futuristic and cinematic, yet simultaneously anchored in the pop music past. Anything that felt too “of the moment” had to be purged to find some sort of timeless (or nostalgic) essence."

"Lightning," also out today, poignantly grapples with themes of love and the tensions and traumas of war. The artists each took inspiration from the real world issues of today, as well as their own personal hardships, to create a compelling, lifelike portrait of current global struggles. Stranger Cat recalls, "I'd be reading the news and feeling dark and emotional about the state of the world, then channel that into the lyrics and melodies of recordings. So, it was me in my cocoon, singing from my depths."

Earlier this month, Guild shared "Until They're Home," a haunting track that delves into grief and aims to make sense of the past and its impact on the future. Emerging from Guild's grief at the loss of a parent, the musician & author shares the track is, "a song about grief, about feeling haunted by the loved ones you've lost, about wondering if you'll ever feel whole again. Erin, my main character, sings here about the loss of her father and boyfriend, but the song comes from my own experience of losing a parent in my twenties, the pain and confusion from that death, the ways I tried to escape the pain. Life is so fleeting, but the memories never leave us; the past can often feel more real than the present."

Sonically, the pensive acoustic guitar pattern resonates with the themes of grief, drawing the listener into a space of loss and longing. Midway through the song, the spacious synth and choral vocals of Gainsayer (Ages and Ages) overtake the track, leading listeners deeper into Erin's pained desire for the past. The song ends on an aching note, with sparse instrumentation and a raw, vulnerable vocal–Erin surrounded by her ghosts, whether real or imagined.

“Only Killers,” the single that arrived last month, illuminates a dark episode in the story of Plastic. Erin is caught in an eco-terror attack at her workplace, and her song decries both the terrorists’ violence and the deadly climate crisis that fuels their rage. The singer Stranger Cat brings Erin to life on the track, capturing her pain and confusion while the propulsive bass and distorted horns mirror her fraught emotions, underscored by unique, staccato percussion.

Plastic has received widespread acclaim from leading tastemakers across the U.S. The New York Times writes that Plastic raises "urgent questions about climate change, political violence and spirituality with high intelligence....we end in wondrous disbelief," while The Los Angeles Times praises the uniqueness of a combined album and novel, calling Plastic "a dark and entertaining saga" and “that rarest of publishing experiences, a story being released simultaneously in prose and music." Bob Boilen, the creator of NPR’s Tiny Desk and All Songs Considered, featured the album on his NPR Music playlist and radio show this month. The Boston Herald calls the pair of works, "[An] epic music/novel project…a futuristic electronic sound based in classic emotive pop.” Praising the album, The Chicago Review of Books writes, “A dream-pop melodrama with surprising hooks, the album feels like [the novel’s] other half. …Scott Guild’s debut Plastic is a surrealist romp that perfectly captures our modern anxieties.” Nick Spacek of The Pitch says, “I cannot recommend [Plastic] enough. When you hear the full album at the end of May, it will break you (in a good way).” Plus, "As if his great novel isn't enough," adds Doug Gordon of NPR, "Guild has created Plastic: The Album." 

Earlier this year, Guild shared the first singles from the album, "Fiona," with its accompanying video here and "Boytoy," introducing listeners to the vast world of Plastic. With sweeping synth and driving drums, "Fiona" tells the story of Erin’s sister, a famous eco-terrorist in the plastic world, with whom Erin must reconnect to save her loved ones. The wistful but head-bopping "Boytoy," set in the first chapter of the novel, explores Erin's need for love and connection in the midst of her crumbling world, narrating a disastrous first date. Each new release from the album expands the sonic universe of Plastic, with the poignant lyrics and inventive arrangements providing a one-of-a-kind storytelling experience. Other contributors include the artist Gainsayer, violinist Leif Karlstrom and cellist Dale Bradley, and the multi-instrumentalist Colin Meyer. 

Guild's music career began as the lead guitarist and songwriter in New Collisions, a Boston art-pop band that toured with the B-52s, opened for Blondie, and collaborated with Greg Hawkes of The Cars. Plastic sees Guild exploring a new kind of lyricism, supported by a 25 city book-and-music tour where the songs are performed live as part of his readings.

Guild is also a professor of Creative Writing at Marian University, as well as a strong advocate for prison reform who publishes on the topic, mostly recently an article in TIME Magazine. He served for years as the Assistant Director of Pen City Writers, a creative writing program for students imprisoned in Texas, and currently teaches courses at Indiana Women’s Prison in Indianapolis.

The powerful, imaginative world of Plastic: The Album has arrived and is out everywhere now. Catch Guild live this summer (with all events open to the public), and connect with him on Instagram and Twitter.

Photo credit: Anna Powell Denton

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