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It invited comparisons to the more ‘out there’, psychedelic end of the indie-rock spectrum, bands like The Flaming Lips and Tame Impala were often mentioned. But at the same time the Isle of Wight-based five-piece were very much their own band – constructing multi-layered mini symphonies that soar, particularly when played live.

And so when it emerged that their second record was to be a ‘break-up’ album, it set alarm bells ringing.

However, we need not have worried. It’s Not Comfortable to Grow retains the adventurous soundscapes of the debut, while combining it with their most reflective lyrics to date.

Plastic Mermaids play The Wedgewood Rooms on January 31, 2023, during Independent Venues Week

Much of the album was written during the pandemic as de facto frontman Douglas Richards was coming out of a seven year relationship.

Now, the band are about to play a run of dates to mark Independent Venue Week 2023, with The Wedgewood Rooms in Southsea up first on Tuesday, January 31.

The Guide caught up with Douglas recently on what was at that point a rare sunny day, when as he says: ‘I'm taking the opportunity of it not raining to move some soil around in my garden...’

Plastic Mermaids are at The Wedgewood Rooms on January 31, 2023 as part of Independent Venues Week.

For any particular reason? ‘Just from a to b and back again. It's a sort of meditation, like those Japanese gravel gardens, you know?’ he jokes – he’s clearing space for a patio at his home in Cowes.

In the conversation that follows Douglas is engaging and thoughtful, but also prone to going off on tangents, as he apologises: ‘I drank too much coffee this morning!’

When the pandemic hit, it came at the end of a busy period for the Mermaids. Before their debut there had been a series of EPs and plenty of touring, and as that cycle came to an end they had gone straight into working on album two.

At the same time, Douglas’s relationship was coming to an end.

‘The break-up took a few months to go into full swing,’ he recalls, ‘which was around the time of starting work on the album. There were a few tracks we had been working on, or had tried to put on the first record and didn't work out.

‘Sometimes it takes a while of having something on the backburner, you come back to it a year later and go, “Oh, I know exactly what to do to finish this”, But you'd got into such a pickle with it before, you put it in a cupboard and thought: “I can never look at it again!” It's always good to have space from things.

‘Some of them were, I don't want to say “regurgitated” as that sounds rather negative... they're brought back up and you have a fresh light on them. You write new lyrics, and you find a new way to bring them to fruition.’

We are often told in any number of contexts that growth is good, but the the album’s title is an expression of how this doesn’t always come without some form of pain.

‘There was a previous iteration of the album title which was more negative, but It’s Not Comfortable to Grow, it's not saying that it’s necessarily an enjoyable process, but growth is positive. It's almost reflecting on how without the end of things and death of things, there's no new life and no new beginnings.

‘The process of death and decay is not always a comfortable one, but it creates space for newness and growth, and that's ultimately a positive thing, that's what I was trying to capture.’

How has he found it, singing such deeply personal songs every night on tour?

‘It is weird – I always want to do the song justice when I'm performing it, so I do have to get into that headspace, and I visualise the situation or the dynamic which has caused that feeling. It takes energy, but I feel like it's part of the art, and maybe by going to that place repeatedly you are in some way healing it as well. I don't know... but it's better than ignoring it, isn't it?’

So has there been an element of catharsis to it? Douglas pauses for a few seconds before replying: ‘Aspects were (cathartic). Aspects were very challenging, and it's all a learning process. The hardest part of making a record is learning how to navigate yourself through the process of making the record.

‘That's where the challenges are, not just in making the music, it's getting yourself through the process in a way that you can create the best music.

‘My brother,’ multi-instrumentalist and co-vocalist Jamie, ‘has always written songs and bits of songs on our previous stuff, but this one ended up being all me writing the lyrics, except the first song which was written a while before with our drummer (Chris Jones). That one was written for our first album which we didn't finish, and then we realised it really fit with the story of the record and the mood.’

There is a definite sense of the record telling a story – does that make this a concept album?

‘Yeah, totally! There was no preordained idea of creating a concept album at the start, but there was definitely a point where you've written a bunch of songs and there's demos and bits and pieces, and you often end up with 30-35 bits and pieces and you're trying to whittle it down to either what you're most excited about, or what you think you can finish, or what you think fits together as well.

‘There was a point in the process where I was like, “oh, hang on, you can almost put them in an order where it feels like a bit of a story”.

‘It almost happened in one night, I had this idea, I remember having that moment – thinking about the flow of the record as a while, it was quite cool.’

And the decision to end on the epic Elastic Time came after watching a Disney classic.

‘I'd watched Fantasia, the 1940s Disney animation with my girlfriend on new year's day and we were really hungover. It gets really dark with Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, and this leads to death and it goes into Ave Maria with this little ball of light floating up. You feel like you've died and been released. I really loved that energy and thought that really fitted with this record. Elastic Time has got this sense of release...’

Although the album is about a break-up, as that last comments reveals, there is a happy ending for Douglas – he got engaged to his girlfriend at last summer’s Glastonbury, after the band made their debut at the festival.

‘It all came out of the blue, it was about 4am and we were sat on the mud in (festival area) Shangri-La, “Ah, shall we get married?” It was such a good weekend. It was our first weekend there and it lived up to all of the hype. You never know with these things, but it was perfect.’

Plastic Mermaids have played in Portsmouth several times – including on Record Store Day in Castle Road, at The Square Tower and at Victorious Festival, but this will be there first time playing The Wedge. It is however a venue close to Douglas’s heart.

‘The first ever gig I went to was at The Wedgewood Rooms. It was The Mad Caddies – a ska-punk band. I must have been 15, almost 20 years ago now. We've not played there though, so we’re really looking forward to it.’

Last year saw a host of other island acts headlining at The Wedge during a break-out 2022, including Coach Party, Lauran Hibberd and Wet Leg. The latter’s Rhian Teasdale often used to appear on stage with Plastic Mermaids, and the duo have gone on to wild critical and commercial acclaim, with a number one album and numerous Brit and Grammy nominations.

While not a ‘scene’ as such – the acts are musically diverse – it is a tight-knit musical community.

‘It's really good,’ says Douglas, ‘it's nice to see. It's great for there to be five or six artists on the Isle of Wight releasing music on proper record labels and touring. There haven't been that many bands lately, The Bees were big a while ago, but since then...

‘It's not really like a movement or anything, but there's a lot of inter-play – (Mermaids’ bassist) Tom and Chris used to play with Coach Party, and Wet Leg, Rhian sang with us, and I played drums with them to start with. Josh who plays bass with them lived with me for a while. And then Chris (Newnham) our guitarist played with Lauran for a while...

‘It's a bit like a family, there's some slightly bizarre dynamics sometimes, but there's sort of a sense of care in there as well and we look out for each other.’

The band are signed to Sunday Best records, the label run by Bestival founder and island resident Rob da Bank. The label gives the Mermaids plenty of creative freedom in their artwork and videos.

Their videos in particular are ambitious, idea-packed films delivered in a humorous lo-fi package.

‘We make them all ourselves, for better or for worse!’ says Douglas. ‘I love doing them, but it takes a lot of time. It's nice to see these things through – I get swept up in it. I'm not very good at delegating, because I want to do things in a certain way.’

The video for recent single Girl Boy Girl is a case in point – it sees Douglas put through a succession of unpleasant scenarios – from slugs crawling on his face, to lying facedown in a gutter, being pecked by chickens in a coop or being dunked headfirst into a canal.

‘Yeah, and that was my idea. I wanted that awkward tension when you're in a relationship where something's not right and there's an elephant in the room and so I wanted to make lots of situations where, for some reason, I'm struggling to sing.

‘I didn't really think about how horrible it was going to be to actually make – of course, all of these horrible, awkward situations are actually really horrible! I didn't really think that through until I got in the moment.

‘I always think I should make them more simple, but I have so many ideas and you try to put them all in, and it's like, wow, this is a bit much!’

Plastic Mermaids are at The Wedgewood Rooms on Tuesday January 31, doors 7.30pm. Tickets £12.50. Go to wedgewood-rooms.co.uk.

Isle of Wight's Plastic Mermaids to kick off Independent Venue Week at Portsmouth's The Wedgewood Rooms