Live Review // The Vecks

Isle of Wight Rock-pop band, The Vecks, show they are able to captivate a crowd with their own lyrics just as well as the well-known classics. They demonstrated this last night, as they played in Southampton’s alternative club: The Soul Cellar.

After a slow start, with everyone arriving and reluctant to stand at the front The Vecks kept up their vibe. Mid set they played their first song ‘This Town’ which is very upbeat and dynamic and they didn’t let their song down in live performance.

The indie rock band are endearing but have a rugged style, which made them suit the underground venue and are definitely loud enough to keep you up and going, without being too in your face. Everything about them was in perfect balance and fresh.

All their original songs were easy to follow lyrically and all of the crowd were nodding along and bopping on the spot to the beat.

After playing a set of their three original songs they introduced their cover to play ‘Pumped up Kicks’ by MGMT. Adding a freshness to a song that isn’t their own, they are able to play live both as original and cover artist.

Even though the crowd was full of drunken teens who had never heard of their music they started to shout “encore” as they left stage, and again The Vecks delivered.

As an opening act they were hard to beat, all their music was consistent and everyone enjoyed their set. The Vecks were there to stay.

All in all they kept the punters buzzing for the rest of the night. A band worth seeing! 

4/5 

Album Review // Indigo

Never Shout Never - Indigo - Released 12th November 2012

The lyrics are similar to all their other music still including explicit language but with light hearted tone, all because his songs are about love. How can someone not like it all his music is metaphorical and can relate to anyone: they sing about life stages and everyday topics.

This album is much more alternative compared to their old albums; which were acoustic based. The first single ‘Magic’ is upbeat with a new twist and more modernised to fit in with 2012, it includes piano and a clear percussion. The album looks to be similar to what we expect of the band.

I prefer their old music however, they have developed as a band and grown into their acoustic and alternative blend. Even though at first the single ‘Magic’ is relaxing it is also upbeat, this is a strange mix at first, but later into the song becomes enjoyable.

However from there on, the other singles including 'Life Goes On’ and 'The Wrong Side of Town' are very dreamlike and can become too dazing.

After a few songs this album becomes droney and is too high-pitched without a strong beat or impact. Unfortunately not as good as first album ‘Yippee’, where each song has an individuality and Christofer Drew has a twang in his voice and music. This looses their trademark strong acoustic beats that are bouncy and and easy to listen to. In this album ‘Indigo’ everything is shifty and has more of a psychedelic feel.

In the early years of their career Never Shout Never had little reputation in the critic world as his lyrics were considered unsophisticated and cliched, and they only had a fan-base of teenage girls. Never Shout Never have clearly tried to steer away from the simplistic acoustic style and gain a newer, wider fan-base. However this album is not the one to do it.

After hope of the first single ‘Magic’ every other single doesn’t live up to their style and this interpretation of psychedelic music has been taken too far. I physically found it hard to listen to the whole album without feeling drained and most songs left me with a pounding of the head.

Everything was simply crap and they should stick to the acoustic pop blend rather than experiment.

2/5