Vaniish - Memory Work

(CD Album Review)

****

A slice of the 80's / 90's brought into 2014!!!

Vaniish are a four piece band from San Francisco featuring Singer / Guitarist Keven Tecon (Ex Wax Idols, The Soft Moon, Veil Veil Vanish), so we all knew from the start this was going to be an album worthy of our attention and from the first offering off it 'In Images' an experimental Art-Rock mood infested instrumental track that set's the scene for what is going to come later on, this is just a brief moment in time to start everything off. 'Memory Work' has hints of Cold Cave and Joy Division to it with the atmospheric vision of bands like The Cure and Shoegazing bands that were around in the 90's on Creation Records. When the vocals first hit in, I am not sure I am going to like this but as the track builds up they sound more like something I would love.

If your a fan of acts like the Jesus and Mary Chain, well if they were lighter you would really get what this band are trying to do. I love the drum machine on the third track 'Kalediscoped' it sounds like it was recorded way back when this kind of thing first came out. Yes! their is a Goth feel to this song but in places it goes really clean and sounds almost like Ride or a commercial Indie band which makes me really like it and the drums by Nick Ott are simply brilliant. On this track you start to love Keven vocal style which one the first singing track weren't perfect. The Shoreditch crowd are really going to have a war over this band, because this is the kind a crowd it will appeal to and people that are still longing for the next Cure concert or to see Peter Hook and the Light at the Alt-Fest next month.

'Fragment / Fatigue' is a little more slowed down but has a nice creepy feel to it, that drives you in. Again it makes used of the 80's / 90's sound to make it's attitude prominent and wish for the days of Factory Music. 'Search and Replace' sounds a little like Bauhaus and later band the Partly Faithful but leaning more to the Indie World. 'Merge' is more of the same but this time to a livelier beat and the vocals are even more haunting and is really appealing but at the same time distant. I love the way 'Succession' comes in slowly and builds up, just like Joy Division used to do and you get a little feel of tracks like 'Dead Souls' or 'Isolation' but topped in with Vaniish's distinctive style and theme that is growing on you as the album goes on. 'Observatory Time' brings you the more tortured side of Keven Tecon and it is a side that is very interesting and unique.

While 'Loss od Sensation' is a slow track that makes you not want to do anything and is a little suicidal. 'Cold Fascination' sounds like a great track you heard before and is one of the highlights of the album and a sure late night club floor groover. 'La foi au fil de l'eau' ends the album in the right way and makes you want to hear the next release by Vaniish. I have to say this album is nothing too new but it's done really well and if your a fan of 80's / 90's Goth and Shoegazing music, this is an album you just can't afford to miss. I would purchase a copy of this and play it late at night and really enjoy it each time I put it on... this is good stuff.

Review by Dan Devour