Plant are bringing much validity to the practice of post-punk replication, which may sound snobby, but they’re bringing validity to snobbery too. Immediately jump to track two of Evenimentul Major, entitled Clepto, and you may remark, “boy, these guys sure do sound like Parquet Courts. Holy tit biscuits (or whatever your preferred signoff is)”. I’m not sure if Plant had Parquet Courts on the brain to a huge extent or if their replication was merely incidental, but the clone-job sounds surprisingly slick. Its Strokes-borrowed riffing is original despite its reminiscence; its bruising sound, spearheading a bruising sarcasm, feels like a credible threat to every other post-punk band that shoots for the same target.

There is an even greater hankering professed by Evenimentul Major, which is Plant’s pledge to fit in in any era of post-punk. They time travel, heading back to the early, snotty Anglo days of the late ‘70s, or pestering those bands that hunted for radio glory in the 2000s revivalism days – whilst, of course, managing to display a number of 2010s-onwards-isms. Said hankering may rub some people the wrong way – it’s not like Plant are making the post-punk of the future – but they’re a very capable bunch. Asta Seara gets a pretty decent jangle going, whilst surveying working class, Bucurestean Hell – which is far more culturally booming than regular Hell – and attractive 2000s melodising. That’s a pretty nifty fusion for one song; a new development made from old parts that not everybody else is trying. There is an underlying “try to please everyone and you’ll please no one” mentality to some chunks of the album, but only some.

You’ve got your uneasy, Gang of Four panics (Glicol Polka / Marele Ecran and TVstar). You’ve got your ‘noisy but friendly enough for radio’, Bloc Party-style dance calamities (Ceai Negru and In Crivat). And when Plant are totally, without a doubt doing their own thing, they’re creating metamorphic, emotional bursts like Stanga Dreapta, which uses crushing dynamics, free-spirited and love-hungry guitars, and complete collapses in rhythmic structure, to do its sentimental bidding and make it appear far more epic than the three-and-a-half minutes it is given would imply.

This is a frustrating review; Plant both is and isn’t its own unique entity. I suppose none of us are making anything without borrowing heavily from past sources, though Plant’s only advancement on these ideas is its very 2020s style of production. But even at its least original, Evenimentul Major is a pretty great musical tribute; a happy home for the upscaled, second-hand furniture these three guys shopped around for.

Best tracks – Clepto – Stanga Dreapta.

Rating – 7 out of 10