In
these frantic times of overblown hyperbole, instant acclaim
and quick-fire backlashes, it’s refreshing to find
a band that’s not terribly worried about being the
Next Big Thing. This is a band that, over the five years
of its existence, has released fewer than 20 songs spread
across two hard to find 7-inch singles and three EPs.
And it’s on the strength of those literate, memorable
songs, plus a series of increasingly tight and vibrant
live shows, that the band has built a devoted and passionate
following – every one of whom has been waiting (and
waiting) to hear this: Voxtrot’s debut album.
When you ask Ramesh Srivastava (Voxtrot’s singer
and songwriter) what took him so long, he’ll tell
you a disarming tale that goes something like this. The
band came together in Austin, TX in 2002. They were (and
still are): Mitch Calvert on guitar, Jared Van Fleet on
keyboards, Jason Chronis on bass guitar, and Matt Simon
on drums – Matt and Ramesh having played music together
since being childhood friends in the early 90s. The plan
was endearingly simple: to record a handful of songs that
Ramesh written. Problem was, he proceeded to leave town
not long afterwards. He spent a year at school in Boston
(where guitarist Mitch was a fellow student) before deciding
that he’d be better off in Glasgow, home to Belle
& Sebastian, Arab Strap, Mogwai and a whole music
scene that he’d loved from afar for years. While
studying English Literature at Glasgow University, Ramesh
would occasionally write more songs (“about one every
three months”, he says). Each time he returned to
Austin for the holidays, the band members would reconvene,
learn the new songs, and maybe play a show at Emo’s.
As a buzz began to develop around the band in their hometown,
Ramesh quit his studies in Glasgow (only months away from
getting his Master’s) to move back to Texas permanently
– and from early 2005 onwards, turned his attention
fully to Voxtrot. (The name, incidentally, “means
nothing” and came about partly because “we thought
there weren’t enough ‘V’ bands”. It’s
also, in our web-driven culture, a seriously smart move:
if you Google “Voxtrot”, they’re all you’re
going to find.)
Newly energized, Voxtrot played well over 100 shows during
2005 and 2006, becoming a sharper and more energetic live
act with each show. These included appearances at SXSW,
CMJ and the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago, as well as
a tour of the UK. With the release of each new EP, Voxtrot’s
audience was expanding – by the end of last year,
they were headlining two ecstatically received nights
at New York’s Bowery Ballroom. In 2007, Voxtrot have
played shows in the UK (including supporting the Shins
at the NME Awards Show in London), France, Germany and
Mexico, with a major US tour planned for May and June,
to coincide with the album’s release.
As much as he loves the energy of the live shows, it’s
songwriting that Ramesh lives and breathes. His musical
influences span the decades. On long family drives from
Texas to New Jersey, the young Ramesh absorbed hours and
hours of the Beatles, Cars, Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello
– “my earliest musical memory is ‘Oliver’s
Army’,” he says. Voxtrot’s live shows have
featured a gorgeous cover
of “Heaven” by the Talking Heads, and a fierce
rush through New Order’s “Love Vigilantes”.
There’s a song on the album about the brilliant
but doomed 70s songwriter Judee Sill, one of Ramesh’s
current obsessions (along with Joni Mitchell and Kate
Bush). During his time in Glasgow, he also fell in love
with the heady euphoria of dance music, spending countless
nights at the Optimo club. Now Ramesh strives to write
songs that combine elements of all these things, songs
that are “expressive but not self-obsessed,”
that contain “perfectly mirrored specific emotions,”
and that have a cathartic, crowd-oriented, surging energy
to them.
Which is exactly what we have on this debut album, Voxtrot.
The band recorded 16 songs with award-winning Australian
producer Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, Athlete,
Beth Orton). 11 songs made the final cut, none of which
has been previously released.
It’s a powerful statement of intent: edgier, harder,
a more confident and ambitious Voxtrot. This album is
Voxtrot stretching their wings, ready to define their
own sound. After the chiming, gorgeous “Introduction”
– a song that’s considerably more substantial
than its title suggests – Voxtrot takes flight
with “Kid Gloves,” the second track –
a brash, pulsing headrush of a song that shows the band
rocking out like never before. “Ghost” and
“Steven” follow – a pair of glorious
indie-pop songs in which the keyboards, strings, guitars
and rhythm section mesh perfectly with Ramesh’s
crystalline vocals. The heart of the album consists
of three huge songs that take the energy of “Kid
Gloves” and ramp it up still further: “Firecracker,”
with its suitably explosive chorus; “Brother in
Conflict,” a spiky anthem that’s destined
to become a live favorite; and “Easy,” on
which band and singer work themselves into a frenzy
while looking back on a relationship gone wrong. After
that, Voxtrot relaxes into the sublime “The Future,
Part 1” which provides a blissed-out counterpoint
to the album’s rockier sounds, as does the swooning,
glorious “Every Day” on which Ramesh sings
“when I crane my neck to kiss your head I know
/ That there is something I can rely on.” The album’s
penultimate song, “Real Live Version,” shows
another new side to this band – it’s a genuinely
moving lament to a dead singer, on which the vocals
are accompanied only by piano and strings. And we end
with “Blood Red Blood,” a song which somehow
combines nearly all the album’s elements over the
course of its four minutes as Ramesh declares “I’m
just trying do my best / I’m not afraid of life,
I’m afraid of death” shortly before the song
screeches to an abrupt halt.
Voxtrot is the sound, paradoxically, of a 5-year-old
band that’s just starting out. Voxtrot have finally
arrived, and they’re in it for the long haul.
David
Barker, Brooklyn, 2007
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