Picking up where their 2017 EP Air Conditioning left off, ‘Baby Steps’ finds Plastic further exploring their love of frenetic, off-kilter pop. While their music has always seemed to play out like a arm-wrestle between razor-sharp focus and chaotic abandon, this time around the tension has been taken up a notch, as the band blend in moments of caustic garage-psych mayhem atop of their already apparent art-pop sensibilities and indie-rock charisma.

Built around a careening groove that rolls restlessly alongside tightly-coiled guitar, ‘Baby Steps’ spends its three minute runtime constantly unravelling. Firstly as Louis McDonald’s gritty vocals appear from amidst the tangling instrumentation, his enigmatic drawl blurring between unenthused and commanding, before these same layers turn dangerously grimy and attempt to derail the song completely.

Fortunately, the band’s pop smarts remain intact as the soundscape warps and stutters, but with a looming robotic voice undercutting Louis through the wall of fuzz, there’s a volatile sense of conflict embedded within ‘Baby Steps’, which Plastic hint at as they explain the track is “a layered exploration of human endeavour and the absurdity of progressing into the perilous unknown.” Despite this disconcerting turbulence simmering underneath - which is only exacerbated by the lopsided hooks and undulating rhythms that feel purposefully crafted to buck us off the pulse - there’s something fiercely compelling about the track as it staggers to its abrupt conclusion, pointing towards big things to come from the band’s forthcoming full-length release.