After almost nine years of musical silence, Todmorden’s finest instrumental trio are sailing back over the horizon with a brilliant new album. Where have Plank been? How can a dog tune a guitar? What role does Barry Manilow play in their music? And how many time signature changes are too many? These questions and more are answered as David Rowe talks to Prog about their triumphant return.

Words: David West

Reservoir sounds: Plank hang out on ‘Todmorden Beach’ at Gaddings Dam in the Calder Valley.

Images: Emma Lavelle

The sun rises and the sun sets, the tide flows in and out again, but it’s been a long wait between albums from Todmorden instrumental trio Plank. Nearly nine years after the insect-themed Hivemind, guitarist and keys player David Rowe, drummer Liam Stewart and bassist Ed Troup reunite with Future Of The Sea. Plank have displayed an affinity for naturethemed concept albums, from 2012’s Animalism, about the exploitation of animals, to Hivemind two years later.

“All my favourite albums are concept albums so it’s a nod to that,” says Rowe. “The third one was going to be about bacteria but I thought there was nothing we could really hang the names of the songs onto.”

Instead of exploring the microscopic world, Rowe’s creative path led him into the waves. He’d been reading Rachel Carson’s book The Sea Around Us and that, combined with the influence of TV series Blue Planet, sparked his imagination. A record inspired by the briny depths might seem an unexpected choice for a band from Greater Manchester’s borders, far removed from the coastline, but, “I like to think we all have a connection with the ocean on a human level,” says Rowe. “I’m thinking of a more evolutionary sense, that as beings on this earth we’ve all come from the oceans.”