‘Like Plasticine’ captures Gordi’s most personal era, with ‘Your Consolation Prize’ leading

Gordi’s ‘Like Plasticine’ arrives, a personal and poetic album with ‘Your Consolation Prize’ and a rich set of 12 songs.

Photo Credit: Brianna da Silva

The cover story is a celebration of arrival. ‘Like Plasticine’, Gordi’s third album, is out now, and it glistens with care. The timing follows a energizing run that placed her alongside Foster The People in Europe, on US festival stages at Lollapalooza and Hinterland Festival, and on US television with The Kelly Clarkson Show and CBS Mornings, plus a KEXP session. With a short pause in Australia before more touring, she opens a door to songs that feel close and expansive.

“Today, as I finally set this album free, I am reminded of its beginning. Deep in the middle of the pandemic I began writing the songs that would make up ‘Like Plasticine’, wondering what the purpose of music was at all. I tried to stop thinking and just feel. When I look back on that time now, sitting in Phoenix Central Park surrounded by things I could make music with, I see ‘Like Plasticine’ arriving as though it was a fire hydrant erupting. Everything we try to contain comes out one way or another. So when you listen to this record, un-contain yourself, stop thinking, and just feel. – Gordi”

These 12 tracks follow a path through change. Gordi writes about coming out and gently adjusting the future she imagined, and she weaves in reflections from her work as a doctor during the pandemic. The songs honor the delicate and the resilient in equal measure.

A highlight arrives with the video for ‘Your Consolation Prize’. Co produced by Brad Cook, whose credits include Snail Mail, Jensen McRae, and Bon Iver, the song leans into a synth pop glow, lifted by drum machines and a soft choir. It speaks to a reality many recognize, that even as acceptance and closeness grow after coming out, some young queer lives are still met with qualifiers.

The album features ‘Peripheral Lover’, ‘Cutting Room Floor’, ‘PVC Divide’ with Anaïs Mitchell, and ‘Lunch At Dune’. ‘Like Plasticine’ is a gorgeous listen, full of heart, ready for long walks, late nights, and new beginnings.