Handmade Cities

Handmade Cities
Studio album by Plini
Released	26 August 2016 (2016-08-26)
Genre	Progressive metal progressive rock
Length	34:37
Label	Self-released
Producer	Plini
Plini chronology
Handmade Cities (2016) Impulse Voices (2020)

Handmade Cities is the first studio album by Australian guitarist Plini. The album was composed, produced, arranged, and mixed by Plini.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Sputnik Music	[2]

Sputnik Music gave the album 4/5.[2] Peter Hodgson of Beat commented that Plini is "making music of such world-class quality on his first full-length record".[3] Steve Vai described the album as being "one of the finest, forward-thinking, melodic, rhythmically and harmonically deep instrumental guitar records [he has] ever heard".[4]

The title track gained attention when the guitar rhythm during its solo was claimed to be plagiarized and said to sound like the guitar solo in American pop singer Doja Cat's 2020 metal version of her single "Say So" which was performed during the MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony.[5][6] A month later Plini said that Doja Cat left an apologetic message for him on social media.[7][8][9] Regarding the alleged plagiarism, Plini said that "the lack of prior communication about it or proper credit upon release is disappointing but not particularly surprising in a sector of the industry that is usually more interested in clout than creativity. (it's being sorted now, but would have been cooler a million views ago)".[10]

Track listing

All tracks composed by Plini

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Electric Sunrise"	5:05
2.	"Handmade Cities"	4:45
3.	"Inhale"	4:57
4.	"Every Piece Matters"	3:40
5.	"Pastures"	7:33
6.	"Here We Are, Again"	2:37
7.	"Cascade"	6:00

Personnel

Musicians

• Plini – guitars
• Simon Grove – bass
• Troy Wright – drums

Production

• Simon Grove – drums mixing
• Plini – mixing
• Ermin Hamidovic – mastering

References

1. "Plini – Handmade Cities". discogs. 26 August 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
2. "Plini Handmade Cities". Sputnick Music. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
3. Peter Hodgson (21 September 2016). "Plini – Handmade Cities". Beat. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
4. "Steve Vai praises guitarist Plini". bravewords.com. 27 November 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
5. "Pop Star Doja Cat Samples Plini Without His Knowledge". MetalSucks. 9 November 2020.
6. "Australian Guitarist Plini Says Doja Cat Borrowed From One Of His Compositions Without Permission". Music Feeds. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
7. "Doja Cat Left Apologetic Voice Messages for Plini After MTV Song Theft Mishap". MetalSucks. 10 December 2020.
8. "Doja Cat apologised to Plini after sampling his song in Say So performance". Kerrang!. 10 December 2020.
9. "Doja Cat Apologised To Australian Guitarist Plini For Borrowing His Composition For 'Say So' Performance". Music Feeds. 10 December 2020.
10. Reilly, Nick (10 December 2020). "Doja Cat apologises to guitarist Plini after using song snippet during EMAs". NME. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.