Viet Cong
Viet Cong
[Jagjaguwar]
Calgary four-piece Women are perhaps the only guitar band of their generation to have managed to make the transition from the aughts to teens without shedding any of their clout. Perhaps it’s down to the fact they tragically dissolved before they had a chance to besmirch their legacy. Or maybe the explanation is as simple as the fact their second record Public Strain is a stone-wall classic, dissonant yet comfortingly intimate. If you haven’t heard it, stop what you’re doing and put it on immediately. Thankfully, two of Women’s members have teamed up with another pair of Cannuck noise-merchants to produce a collection of songs that effortlessly stand-up alongside their old band’s choicest cuts.
Viet Cong starts just where Women left off. Angular Wire-esque riffing moves into warm fuzz while cooed 1960s pop vocals shift to Spencer Krug style yelps without missing a beat. Each track slowly reveals itself, so that just when you think you’ve sussed what they’re doing, they roll out a bigger chorus or a more intricate and rewarding instrumental passage than you thought they were capable of. For a band that rush-released their debut EP seemingly out of nowhere last year, Viet Cong are assuredly deliberate in their pacing, only arriving where they want to once they are good and ready. Listen after listen, it’s an absolutely joyous, if intense, journey to take with them. Buy this record.
Like this, try these:
Ought – More Than Any Other Day
Words: Danny Wilson
