Welsh quartet VVOLVES have an 80s industrial rock sound, it’s steeped in Joy Division-like echoing vocals on opener Clearer, a straight forward. high energy track that gets this three track EP off to an engaging, if not earth shattering, start. It’s followed by the melancholy acoustic guitar driven tune She, which definitely has a certain The Cure-esque vibe, though the vocals sit closer to Paul Weller. It comes to a close with rousing barks of the title, and is another fine, lively number.
Closing track Where You’d Start is a swirling, shuffling and foggy tune, its instrumental refrains squawking like a rusty bear trapped in a factory, divided up with maudlin verses where an ethereal voice coos ‘Let’s go down to the water.’ It’s a fittingly mellow close to the record, aptly echoing their influences in its dense seventies/eighties alternative stylings.
VVOLVES do what they do well, but their sound here feels too in thrall to acts gone by and it’s difficult to distinguish them so much from bands that have long shadows looming over the music scene, acts that, though now defunct, are as popular as ever. There’s enough talent on display on this EP to suggest that further down the line VVOLVES will cast their own shadow, but on this record at least they’re still lurking in the shade.
[Rating:3]
