How do I get so lucky? Just last week I reviewed an album titled PASSWORD and today I’ve got Promo Copy Only by Vegetables At Last. The Veggies (as they’re known to their friends) is an English alternative rock band who’ve released 13 albums, and this is not a promo release but a legitimate 14th album. Got that? The group features six or seven regular contributors, functioning as a kind of music collective. The lineup includes Paul Morris (vocals/guitar), Simon Pickering (vocals/keys/guitar), Carl Fox (bass/guitar/percussion), Gareth Bouch (electronica), Adrian Carr (percussion) and Paul Brown (bass). Most recording takes place in Nice, France with remote contributions from England. This album is heavily guitar-driven and shows the influences from Ride, Grandaddy, The Family Cat, Sonic Youth, The Polyphonic Spree, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Primal Scream, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Placebo and My Bloody Valentine. The Veggie’s songs are described as “exploring the darker side of life.” The band also asserts they’re not trying to reinvent the wheel: “We believe that the beauty of songs written and performed with guitars, bass, drums, organ and vocals endure as an approach regardless of how popular other approaches are at the moment.” Before reviewing the music I also have to give kudos to their cover art: countless musicians (including me) have used train track imagery, but this is one of the most beautiful portraits of that type I’ve ever seen. “After Christmas” is appropriately a song about suicide (I’m already digging the band’s dark humor!) and starts with jangly keys and ringing, bell-like guitars that evoke an alternative universe Christmas carol. The band’s sound is very much traditional guitar pop-rock with a leavening of spacey keys and vocals with a pronounced English accent, like Bowie on helium or classic rocker Peter Noone. I might even call this dream pop. A song about envy called “Orange Car” follows, with the vocals (by Simon Pickering) now pleasantly in the lower John Cale register. This is another mid-tempo jangle-fest with the guitars alternating between two bright major chords within an arrangement not far from R.E.M. The rocking choruses are basically the verses played louder but without lyrics, which works great. “Happy Ever After” has an opening bass riff similar to ELO’s “Showdown.” The electronics (credited to Gareth Bouch) are a bit more expansive here, along with louder guitars with lots more bite and attitude while still retaining that jangly sound. Paul Morris’ vocals are a bit higher and more pinched as he sings a song about being unfulfilled. “You’ll never be happy. / You know that now, don’t you?” Would it be scandalous to compare his voice to the late great Davy Jones? “You’re Making Me Say It Again” gets slower and even more dreamy (helped by the phasing effect on the guitar) with a vibe that took me back to “Space Oddity” by Mr. Bowie (well, they do mention a space man). This is a more stripped-down sound for the group, with just four members playing five instruments. “Banging On About Jesus” is a song about fanatical religion that again shows the band’s twisted humor. Just the title had me laughing, and the song itself only gets better. “So maybe you were right and I’m evil… so you’re still banging on about Jesus / Oh Jesus, just leave me be!” This track seems to have not just one but two walls of sound, guitars and keys. I might have liked to hear the amusing lyrics more clearly but it also works as-is. Following is a song about dependency (though with a relationship or drugs is not clear) titled “Through The Night”. The vocals sound tweezed and processed and everything else is mixed quite loud but these are nonetheless some of the nicest chord schemes and lyrics. This track just went on my Spotify Favorites List! “Jacob” continues the trend toward extreme loudness and vocal saturation for an angry screed about political greed, with literal clouds of fuzz riffs. The vocals are way beyond processed, now sounding totally robotic. Backing away from the precipice, “Please Stop” has a simple, stripped-down arrangement like Loaded-era Velvet Underground, with classic rock organ and tremolo guitars. The cleverly titled “Parragonnavirchou” (a song about hypocrisy) also has a Velvet’s sound, maybe even like the single-chord drones from their first album. The closing track “Make This The Day” starts with big, full guitar chords yet again piped through the overworked phasing machine (it’s a great effect but maybe a tad less next time?). For the finale you sort of expect an uplifting jangle fest, and that’s what we get here though the song is about addiction. That’s the band’s cool dichotomy in a nutshell. A couple small caveats aside, I loved this album and tradition of guitar rock that it carries on. Recommended!
bandcamp
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Critique/insightWe are dedicated to informing the public about the different types of independent music that is available for your listening pleasure as well as giving the artist a professional critique from a seasoned music geek. We critique a wide variety of niche genres like experimental, IDM, electronic, ambient, shoegaze and much more.
Are you one of our faithful visitors who enjoys our website? Like us on Facebook
Archives
May 2024
|