The Dismemberment Plan

The Dismemberment Plan—or The Plan for short—defy musical pigeonholing. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, the Washington, DC, band leapfrogged between spring-loaded dance-punk bursting with rhythmic quirks (“Do the Standing Still”), churning indie power ballads (“The Ice of Boston”), and introspective math rock (“Time Bomb”). The Plan formed in 1993 and leaned into post-hardcore and second-wave emo on 1997's The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified. After an ill-fated stint on a major label, in 1999 they released Emergency & I, a watershed album that delved into the anxieties over navigating adulthood. This album opened doors for the band—they’d go on to open for Pearl Jam and Death Cab for Cutie—yet 2001’s more sophisticated Change proved to be their swan song at the time, as they split two years later. Frontman Travis Morrison released several solo records hewing toward quirky indie pop, while bassist Eric Axelson teamed up with members of The Promise Ring in the emo-leaning Maritime. However, The Dismemberment Plan reunited for a one-off charity show in 2007 and then got back together in 2011 for additional shows to celebrate a reissue of Emergency & I. Things went so well that the band recorded a new Dismemberment Plan album, 2013’s Uncanney Valley, full of their usual spirited observations.