major, Silver Plastic Forks
The debut record, Silver Plastic Forks, from Atlanta band major opens with “A Comet.” The chimes of a guitar fade in, breaking for just a moment before coming back more robustly. The melody feels familiar, invigorating. “Change, feeling it all / A comet moving up ahead to show us something that we oughta know,” sings frontman Holden Fincher. It’s an appropriate introduction to the album, which arrives to us as an encapsulation of all that major has been so far, starting from the beginning. And there’s an intensity to it that rarely lets up.
We’ve had the pleasure of watching (almost) the full development of Silver Plastic Forks over the past few years. major debuted in 2024 with “A Comet” and released eight of the album’s other nine tracks in the time between then and the full record release. The title track is the only surprise, arriving like a shiny ribbon to tie everything together at last. While many of these songs have existed for a while now, it was all re-recorded live over the past year. The old has been folded in with the new, much like the sound of the songs themselves.
Silver Plastic Spoons recalls the late 2000s, early 2010s heights of guitar bands without feeling dated or kitschy at all. This may be an odd comparison, but something about it (less in sound and more in feeling) reminds me of the song “Ultraviolet” from the 2008 teen movie Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging; it represents everything charming and exciting about what a young rock band can be and how it can tie you to a moment, adding an extra dose of scrappiness for good measure.
The record avoids being overly poppy, though, demonstrating a masterful balance between nostalgia and experimentation. The songs are full of gripping moments, from the muffled screams of “Nu Metal Friends” to the Truth Club-esque syncopation of the title line in “7 Year Itch” to the near-ominousness of the breakdowns in “CRV.” major manages tension and texture extremely well, slicing seconds of calm with steamrolling guitars and letting vocals linger in the background to brighten and soften as needed.
There’s something refreshing about the lyricism, too. Silver Plastic Forks is decidedly immune to the hackneyed clichés that sometimes accompany indie-rock music. So many lines stand out off the top of my head, and the hookiest portions of these tend to be well-represented by the song titles. The delightfully earnest “That’s cool, you’re cool, so cool” line in “Leanin’” and the unusual line form of “No Man, No Why,” stand as examples. These moments are the crux of what makes the songs on this record so memorable for me. I saw major live before ever hearing any of their recorded material, but when I went back to listen, every song held its own in my memory. I think that’s a pretty good sign.
The tail end of the album slows down a bit. Penultimate track “Homepark” is easily the record’s most leisurely. It has a wistfulness to it, with whispery echoed and delayed vocals floating in the back while Fincher’s main vocal is at its most unobstructed. It’s like a big inhale before the closing track, “Silver Plastic Forks.” Though it’s the last song to be released, SPF was actually among the first songs ever written for major. Everything seems to come full circle when this phrase not only introduces the record in name but then closes it out.
major gave us plenty of time to get comfortable with the material of their first record, but it still feels exciting to have the songs all together in one place. Now that we’ve got past and present condensed into one, we’re looking forward to seeing what will come next.
Shots from major's album release show (Photo: Sam Kapoor)
major's debut album 'Silver Plastic Forks' was released July 20th, 2026
