Sometimes it\u2019s about the lyrics. Sometimes it\u2019s about the music. Sometimes it\u2019s about the guitar, or the drums, or the keyboards. And sometimes, it\u2019s about the vibe.<\/p>\n
Venus Throw is all about the vibe.<\/p>\n
Bruce Smith (vocals\/guitar), Johanna Moorman (keys\/vocals) and Herbie Gimmel (drums) are not going to knock you over with musical or lyrical complexities or exceptional vocal quality. But man, do they know how to create an atmosphere\u2014and they\u2019re very clear-cut about what that atmosphere is. This is their sophomore release; their debut was titled Film Noir<\/i>, as is one of the tracks here, and that title points directly to what this music is\u2014cinematic rockabilly noir, Elvis, Bo Diddley and Booker T. & The MGs playing the soundtrack to a Vincent Price movie in a dark alley.\u00a0 (Gothabilly?)<\/p>\n
Song titles like \u201cBlack Valentine,\u201d \u201cBlack And Shiny Beast,\u201d \u201cFilm Noir\u201d and \u201cSkeleton Tree\u201d only accentuate the \u201cdancing in the graveyard\u201d factor. Even the cartoonish cover art fits the theme; in places this Southern-tinged album plays like Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Scooby Doo.<\/p>\n
The proceedings open energetically with \u201c12 Glass Soldiers,\u201d whose Bo Diddley beat Smith matches with vocals that alternate between deadpan John McCrea speak-singing and a throaty George Thorogood growl. \u201cBlack Valentine\u201d emphasizes the McCrea influence with a virtual spoken-word narrative.<\/p>\n
\u201cGirl With A Gun\u201d revs the engine hard once again, driving the beat and delivering this superb chorus: \u201cWhen a girl\u2019s got a gun, a boy better walk the line \/ Thought I was through with my confession, she introduced me to Smith and Wesson.\u201d This one makes me smile every time.<\/p>\n
The creepy factor ratchets up on \u201cGoodbye Jeffrey Lee,\u201d about the death of a blues player and his journey to the afterlife, and \u201cBlack & Shiny Beast,\u201d a rockabilly barnburner. In places this Elvis-themed tune is almost profound\u2014\u201cLike a human Rorshach test, he defined the world \/ Couldn\u2019t define himself\u201d\u2014yet it\u2019s full of campy\/creepy atmospherics: \u201cDreams of rockabilly hell \/ I wonder why Elvis Presley fell.\u201d<\/p>\n
At mid-album, the instrumental \u201cBossy Lil\u2019 Thing\u201d comes off like a brief psychotic break\u2026 psychedelic rockabilly, anyone? Then \u201cSecret South\u201d comes in with a sort of rough-edged BTO-comes-to-Alabama feel. The atmospherics themselves become the song on \u201cFilm Noir,\u201d whose narrative consists of a string of familiar phrases and images one might experience during, as Smith puts it, \u201cLong rainy evenings reading Raymond Chandler.\u201d Closer \u201cIt\u2019ll Be Me\u201d accentuates the rockabilly vibe with a storming little thumper full of stinging solos and cowboy yips and hollers.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
A little Internet research reveals the band\u2019s current lineup includes only Smith from the trio that made this album; and that\u2019s too bad, as Moorman\u2019s background and harmony vocals formed a nice counterpoint to Smith\u2019s lead voice. One can only hope the new crew is equipped to deliver the sort of vocal interplay found on this disc.<\/p>\n
In the end, Venus Throw feels a little gimmicky, to be sure\u2014but the gimmick works. This album might not change your world, but it will definitely take you away to someplace new and fascinating for 35 minutes or so, and it\u2019s well worth taking that ride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8683],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-42255","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-venus-throw","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42255"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}