Michael Plater is a U.K-based Australian experimental/folk/psych/indie/noir musician and multi-instrumentalist.
His first two solo albums “Exit Keys” (2012) and “Mythologies” (2016) received world-wide critical acclaim, with “Mythologies” being re-released in the U.K in 2018 through cult British folk/psyche/drone label Reverb Worship. In recent years, he has also released music on such labels as Hypostatic Union (U.K), Dub Cthonic (U.K), Woodford Halse (U.K), Hibernate (U.K), Laily Recordings (U.K), and More Than Folk Records (France).
Michael has played in the U.K-based dark folk ensemble GhostShips, the ambient project Ghosts of Electricity, the Gothic soundscapes act The Northern Lighthouse Board, Melbourne garage rockers The Exit Keys, and folkloric collective Cornish Wreckers. His highly-acclaimed latest solo album, “Ghost Music,” is out now on Hypostatic Union.
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“Ghost Music” takes inspiration from Australia’s dark history and the myths, folklore, and legends of Michael’s current adopted home in Cornwall, drawing together a phantasmagorical assemblage of ghosts, seafarers, convicts, spirit mediums, smugglers, alchemists, and lighthouse keepers.
Recorded between 2019 and 2021 at No Recording Studio in Essex, the album is dedicated to the late John Hannon (Liberez, Woe), who recorded, produced and played everything from violin, harmonium, harmonica, clarinet, to bagpipes on the album. The album also features crucial contributions from Stafford Glover (Enclosed & Silent Order, Extreme Noise Terror), who co-wrote two of the songs and plays an equally varied collection of instruments, including bass, autoharp, organ, doorframes and piano lids. "Ghost Music" also features guest appearances from Mark Kluzek, Tony Millman, and Fawnia Mountford, with additional technical assistance from the legendary Mark Beazley (Rothko), and Julian Wright. The album was mastered and pressed to lathe cut vinyl by the extraordinary Michael Lawrence at Bladud Flies!
“Ghost Music” is out now.
Selected Press:
“Michael Plater should be out there touring the world and releasing a revelatory new disc every year…we're lucky to
have him,” (Mythologies album review, Robert Brokenmouth, I-94-Bar)
“Multifaceted and very emotional...bewitching,”
(Mythologies album review, Gezeitenstrom Musik Magazine, Germany)
“Beautiful and timeless...Music that breaks your heart,” (Peek-a-Boo Magazine, Belgium)
“One of the most absorbing and arresting players around,” (B-Side Magazine, Australia)
“Late-night indie rock 'n' roll, dark folk influences, woozy dreampop atmospherics, and a generous helping of Gothic Americana,” (Bliss Aquamarine, U.K)
“His seemingly sweet music approaches you almost tenderly, then comes the deep, deep voice, somewhere between Nick Cave and Johnny Cash. A voice that carries a real melancholy, supported by an insistent but discreet piano...exciting, rock and roll and lyrical,” (New Box Magazine, France)
“Lost between dark folk, gothic Americana and dark rock...his songs are made of that sweet melancholy that we know so well…at once familiar and reassuring, like an old friend who comes to visit you when a rainy horizon weighs on your soul.” (Mithra Templezine, France)
“Michaels warm, very melodious and deep voice exudes a draft of a special kind and creates goosebumps.”
(Independent Sounds, Germany)
“Listening to Michael Plater's music, the names that come to mind are Nick Cave, Nikki Sudden (in his 'solo works'),
Lou Reed... Intimate folk-blues ballads, with an underground taste...a songwriter with talent...Heartfelt music from a
sensitive soul, surely. Very good work.” (Sudden Art Music Magazine, Italy)
“The songs are ballads, stories and emotions… it’s almost as if the music is there to enhance the words, thoughts and
ideas. Lyrics of introspection and observation accompanied by great chord combinations and that vocal, is what really
holds my attention,” (Mythologies album launch review, Tote Hotel, Lindy Gordon, Feeling the Beat)
“Enigmatic Melbourne troubadour, Michael Plater…explores the dark corners of his inner world, wringing every last
drop of fascination out of his gnarled guitar,” (Americana Australia)
“Fantastic and melancholic songs, sung with his strong and expressive voice” (Mythologies album review, At Sea
Compilations, Germany)
“I love this track, so will you. The music bops along with an almost summery vibe, belying the sinister undercurrent of the song...splendid,” (Pretty Maids single review, Made in the Shade)
“Michael has a way with his guitar style, he has this swaying, rhythmic melody, letting the tones and the flesh of his
sound speak, building in stages and degrees, moving so strongly that you think he’s about to curl into his guitar,” (live
review, Metro Hotel, Robert Brokenmouth, I-94-Bar)
“This album is intense, dramatic, scary, funny, amazing. The entire production is incredibly well made. Everything
works perfectly…one of the most original records released this year,” (5/5 Exit Keys album review, Vents Magazine,
Dominican Republic)
“Whether solo or with a band, his sound has usually combined a version of Gothic, Southern alt. country with
something quite quirky and antipodean… Well worth checking out if names like Reed, Cohen, Cave and Waits
already feature in your record collection,” (4/5 Exit Keys album review, Leicester Bangs, U.K)
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/michaelplatermusic
Michael Plater Bandcamp: http://michaelplater.bandcamp.com/
Michael Plater Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/michaelaplater
Michael Plater Facebook artist page: https://www.facebook.com/michaelplatersolo
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