The Devil Has Texas

The specter of Abilene, Texas haunts the entirety of Plato III’s Polyvinyl debut, The Devil Has Texas. “Wherever on the map I be, my soul stay stuck in Abilene,” belts Plato III, alongside the strained voice of American Football's Mike Kinsella – Plato III's newfound label mate, who leads the album's opening with a cover of Daniel Johnston's "Spirit World Rising." It's an unhinged ode that tumbleweeds into a realm of crabgrass browning under desolate skies, pitbulls slobbering behind rusted fences, and doomed trailer park pipe dreams. Welcome to West Texas.

Plato III fuses nimble bars with outlaw anthem guitars to guide us down the dusty streets and empty plains of his hometown. “Summertime I was barefooted on the asphalt, Southwest and Catclaw, running into buildings, Where I’m from the only way of making millions is a scratch-off,” he spits on the fire-breathed single “Give ‘Em Hell.” Southwest and Catclaw is the intersection where Plato III used to roam shirtless as a kid, a bean-burrito in his hand when he could afford it, while his mother pulled double-shifts at Skinny’s, a regional convenience store. “Crenshaw Boulevard is famous because rappers from LA mentioned it,” Plato III says. “I had streets too, and they meant a lot to us.”