Monday 22 April 2013

Vicugna Pacos Review


Vicugna Pacos
Fur Blend
Philophobia Music



                On their Soundcloud page Fur Blend claim to have invented an "original sound". Now, call me cynical but I've heard this claim before and 99% of the time what has been created isn't "original", and about 95% of the time what they have created is utter dogshit. Fortunately for Fur Blend, while I failed to discover that elusive, original sound that popular music is crying out for, they succeeded in not being utter dogshit (I would be happy for them to quote me on that for any future press releases).

                I think, perhaps, what they meant to say when they described their music as original, was eclectic. Eclectic is a horribly over-used word by music reviewers and press agents but I'm not getting paid to write this review and pressing shift F7 always seems like cheating to me. But at least it is the right word.

                They start their EP with a fantastic track called Valley Girl. They sound like a proper band, possibly from Oregon, and, having never seen the band live, I would guess at least one of them has a beard. More importantly though, the guitar lick is top and so is the chorus.

                At this point I thought I was in for an EP of slacker stuff, but like flicking a record player from 33 to 45, they stepped on the accelerator and drove to Punk Town. The next two tracks, No Use and Pretty Good B-Side, hint at the garage-rock sound that became popular at the start of this millennium. This could be the source of their influence, or it could be from The Buzzcocks et al, but either way it is done with gusto.

                The final track of the EP, Speeding Heart, is one of those acoustic numbers with some faint strings in the background and some mournful lyrics about the passing of time and such like. It's the kind of song bloody loads of people love nowadays, but I only tend to hear this music if I accidentally turn on a rubbish "British made" drama and they have some melancholic sounds over the top of someone walking through a park while looking sad because they've lost a winning lottery ticket. You know the sort. Not for me I'm afraid, despite the nice harmonies, and I preferred Fur Blend when they kept their amps plugged in.

                Stay young is my advice. At all costs.

Stephen Vigors

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