This Is Our Jam: Planningtorock, “The Breaks”

Pop stars tend to boil down their physical and musical presences to be as wide-reaching and digestible as possible. Planningtorock’s Janine Rostron, however, takes great pains to make pop with the opposite mentality: She wears costumes that distort her body and prosthetics that obfuscate and warp her features. The vocals on “The Break” seem melted and mutated; Rostron’s gender is unclear; the song throbs and groans with generally unpleasant imagery. “Don’t be surprised if I’m ripping out my eyes,” Rostron begins. Yet, as left-field as this all may sound “The Breaks” is still infectious and appealing. Planningtorock may be a bit harder to swallow, but at least we have something to chew on.