Viva Voce – Rose City
There are very few poppy indie rock groups I like. Very few. Viva Voce is one of them. Viva Voce toggles between genres like you eat lunch – psychedelic, dream pop, electric folk, classic rock, and general early ’90s slacker pop. Sure, this blog tends to champion artists who do fuckin’ weird shit. But sometimes you want a good no frills rock and roll record. Viva Voce’s forthcoming Rose City is just that.
Latin for “by live voice,” Viva Voce is the type of compositionally tight group that feels organic and feels like a group that must be seen live to appreciate fully. Other than a heightened production level, there’s not much separating Rose City from 2004′s The Heat Can Melt Your Brain and 2006′s Get Yr. Blood Sucked Out. Fine with me, Viva Voce is the type of band that makes the familiar sound fresh, and the type of band that created a forumla that works and shouldn’t be fucked with.
Opener “Devotion” evokes Darklands-era Jesus and Mary Chain and mid-career Primal Scream, with rapid-fire percussion, swelling synths, and reverb-drenched vocals. “Good as Gold” is classic Breeders – simple, sloppy, and catchy. “Red Letter Day” is the classic Morricone-informed, absinthe-influenced, highly hummable, drive your truck into the sunset dirge that made Tara Jane O’Neil’s new record so engaging. However, it’s the sound the group cultivates on songs like the western-tinged, ornate, classic 4AD vibin’ “Flora” that separates Viva Voce from the general NPR-friendly hipster garbage – placing them along the best in contemporary jangle and dream pop, or as I call it, C86 v2.0. Trippy and accessible, Rose City gets a 9 on form, 8 on mind-meltingness, and is 100% worthy of your attention.
Viva Voce’s Rose City drops on May 26th. Grip it here.
Fagen-Becker Quality Rating
