With a title like “Get Yr Blood Sucked Out” and album art that conjures up memories of a combustible Waco cult; it is easy to make presumptions about the music contained inside before completely removing the plastic wrapping. What you will find though, past the blazing exterior, is short on vampires and sects, and big on harmonies and melodies. Viva Voce’s (Italian for ‘word of mouth’) ambitious fourth album is as refreshing as a brisk autumnal walk in the woods. VV consists of married duet Kevin and Anita Robinson (no relation to the Black Crowes’ Robinsons). These transplanted Alabamans, who now call Portland their home, have released a seductively brilliant LP, influenced by 70’s So-Cal hippies, but not exactly clad in tie-die. (An argyle sweater would be more appropriate perhaps).
Although reminiscent of contemporaries, The Rosebuds, mingling in the same style of fuzzed-out folk, VV is exponentially more successfully in creating atmosphere and delivering on melodies. They are able to take a potpourri of styles and produce something novel and crisp. What’s most impressive, the Robinsons recorded and mixed this grand, multi-layered endeavor right in their own living room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. (As stated in the liner notes of the back cover) That is no small feat...
VV sounds so fresh because they eclectically share duties on the vocals. Anita’s sultry, raspy voice deftly compliments Kevin’s cooler, laid back approach. The anthemic “From The Devil Himself” brings together both said styles. With its catchy harmony and Anita’s walling, progressive guitar work, it shows how masterfully Viva Voce can get it all together. What you will soon discover on this track, however, is that the album’s title - “Get Yr Blood Sucked Out” -is more indicative of the leeches that come dressed in three-piece suites, rather than the kind that hang out in caves… “we’re gonna get some money for nothing/on every song that you wrote.”
Instrumentally speaking, VV is an inversed version of the White Stripes; with Anita masterfully reigning on the guitar, taking bold jaunts into distorted psychedelic splendor and at other times just flat out swaggering in the classic rock sense, all while Kevin holds it all steady with his monstrous drumming. “Faster Than a Dead Horse” a rockin’ ditty that features Anita’s strutting, fuzzed- out guitar and saccharine vocals, and Kevin’s pounding beats, is a prime example of the Robinson’s musical virtuosity.
A few other standouts include, “Drown Them Out”, which sounds like an extra spacey Mazzy Star, “Never Like Yesterday”, evocative of classic 70’s AM radio of yore and “Special Thing” a delicate, hand clapping, lighter-flickering gem. Then there is the menacing “We Do Not Fuck Around” which begins with calming piano chords that crescendo into Robinson’s battle cry of …not fucking around. They truly don’t and this album most certainly doesn’t.
Viva Voce has been doing a bit of label jumping, moving from Sufjan’s Asthmatic Kitty imprint to the Chicago based Minty Fresh, and now landing at Seattle’s Barsuk label. With such a huge release like “Get Yr Blood Sucked Out” it is hard to imagine any label letting them go, unless the big guns come a knocking… Hip Stoner indie fans beware, with such a hugely engrossing effort, Viva Voce might not be your little secret anymore. The word will be spreading. Viva Voce es brano musicale - (that’s Italian for a smashing success.) |