Vandas, The - Slow Burn (Album)
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WARNING: There is some terrible news relating to Melbourne quartet, The Vandas' debut record, Slow Burn. The fact is that the album may not have seen the light of day had it not been for a chance meeting with Joel Silbersher (God, Hoss, Tendrils) who later went on to produce the album. Now we can all collectively breathe a sigh of relief as this tragedy was averted as the record is in fact due out in September and is up there with some of the best material I have heard all year, making me think that if enough people get to hear it, then it could be huge!
With regards to the recording, the band had the sense to scrap the idea of re-recording their original demos and instead incorporated these into the finished product, which may have lead to a more organic process and certainly a more natural-sounding product. The result is an offering of ten straight, no fuss rock tracks. The music itself is littered with many riffs inspired by sixties and seventies greats but with enough original parts to keep the listener interested throughout.
The group has two singers, Chris Altmann and Mikey Madden and one of them (sorry guys, I don’t know which) sounds a lot like Keith Relf from The Yardbirds and the backing vocals sound like Dave Davies from The Kinks. With an overall feel predominantly centred on classic seventies rock, the music has a familiar aspect as it guides your spirit along and makes it soar.
The opening track, The Alarm opens with an introduction that sounds like silverchair’s Shade, while a melancholic Radiohead-esque vibe underlies the score. Some horns fuse well with the rock of Know It All before Warm At Night pays homage to Jimi Hendrix, most notably, The Wind Cries Mary. Other tracks include Go Getter, a song inspired by Led Zeppelin and Slow Burn, which sounds like a cross between Neil Young and The Beatles’ Dear Prudence. And all this transpires before we are transported to the American desert with nothing but peyote in No-one Must Say Anything.
In all, the album is familiar, yet original; a classic throwback, yet modern sounding. In essence, like any good piece of art, it has many gorgeous aspects to it and with time you will come to appreciate it so much more. This really is a contender for album of the year.
