Van Plating Finds Love in the Streets of “New York” (premiere)

Psychologists say that people’s personalities radically change every five years or so. Sure, the essence of one’s being remains the same, but one is not the same person at 15 than at 20, 25 as 20, 30 at 25, etc. The conventional wisdom suggests this tapers off the older one gets. For example, the person at 75 is not as different from at 70, but that’s not true for everyone. Some people never stop changing.

That sentiment proved the inspiration for Van Plating’s latest single, “New York”, from her forthcoming release, The Way Down (19 November). She says, “I was reading an article recently about a young man who was interviewing a much older man about his marriage with his recently deceased wife. He said something along the lines of ‘I loved every woman she was, for our whole 60-plus-year marriage.’ He continued to tell the younger man how every few years something would happen, she’d grow and change, and he said it was like he got to woo and marry a new woman!”

Van Plating’s song captures the excitement and surprise of having continuously fallen in love. The fact that the object of one’s affections is the same person at a different stage adds to the depth of feeling. Van Plating sings the lyrics with an earthy sincerity. Her acoustic guitar drives the rhythm to keep the mood exciting. Together the words and music work to capture the back and forth of a vital relationship that continues to grow.

Previously, Van Plating was the singer and violinist for the indie rock band Pemberley. The group broke up, and for almost a decade, she stopped playing music professionally. She recorded her self-titled debut in 2019 and received positive attention. The Way Down was recorded during the pandemic, and judging by the single “New York” shows her musical muscles have come back even stronger.