When author and musician Scott Guild began work ten years ago on his epic music/novel project “Plastic,” he didn’t think a story about a plastic female figurine could ever be a hit. He was glad to be proven wrong on that one.
“I didn’t realize that Barbie would take over the planet, and now plastic figurines are the most mainstream thing in the world,” he said this week. “So maybe a surreal story like mine isn’t that big a stretch.” Of course you probably wouldn’t confuse the two stories otherwise, but they both have music attached. Guild’s heroine Erin lives in a figurine dystopia torn by war and eco-terrorism, taking solace from a musical TV show that she loves. After completing the novel Guild worked on a set of songs from that fictional show, and “Plastic” is being released this week as a book with a separate soundtrack. Guild will give a reading at Brookline Booksmith Friday, and will also preview (on tape) some of the songs.
Guild was a notable Boston musician before he became an author. His band, the New Collisions, were a big local attraction around 2010; the Cars’ Greg Hawkes guested on keyboards with them and they wound up opening for some heavy hitters. “That was one of the most exciting times in my life,” Guild said. “The music scene boosted us to where we had enough visibility that we could open for Blondie, and then we did a whole East Coast tour with the B-52’s. Those were the biggest shows we ever played, and it happened because of that warm community that supported us.”
He left town around 2013 when the band split up, getting his MFA at the University of Texas and later a Ph.D. Work on “Plastic,” his debut novel began around that time. “At a certain point in my late 20’s I transitioned into writing full time. I wanted to tell a story about someone who in a deep sincere way is trying to make sense of living in a troubled chaotic moment, and faces some difficulty on the way. There has been a nuclear war and there is eco-terrorism; so it relates to our own moment, but is further along a dark timeline. So even though Erin is a plastic figurine from the future, I feel like I’ve been with her for a long time now.”
The album was conceived afterwards, based on lyrics that were part of the story. True to the setting, it’s a futuristic electronic sound based in classic emotive pop. He collaborated with the composer Cindertalk and the singer Stranger Cat, who plays the part of Erin. “We made the sonic choices to echo what the book feels like. There are plastic figurines who go into a virtual world now and then, but they’re also meant to be human beings who feel a lot of emotion. So it’s meant to feel organic and synthetic at the same time. Whenever Erin has a song experience she gets a spotlight shining down on her, which I know sounds completely bizarre until you read the book.”
Though he’s currently doing a reading tour, Guild has hopes that “Plastic” can ultimately become a full stage show. “It’s actually been getting a nice response from sci-fi fans and in some ways it’s literary fiction, so I guess those two audiences are the main ones. And of course, anyone who enjoys reading about figurines.”
