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November 2017 Roundup

Jon Doyle — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 19:29:43 +0000

November 2017 was a busy month away from the site for us, but thankfully it’s quality and not quantity that matters, and we’ve managed to write about some of our very favourite albums of the year. If you’ve missed them, we’ve collated a song from each band we covered last month into one short but sweet playlist. Click through the links in the tracklisting to be taken to the individual posts.

Tracklisting:

Friendship – If You See My Beloved
Rainwater – Ordinary Pain
Vivian Fantasy – Florist
Anamon – Kneel Old
Human Kitten – Stuck Neverlasting
American Poetry Club – You Don’t Have To vs. Anyone
Merce Lemon – Johnny When He’s Sweet and John For All The Rest
Beverly Tender – Whose Taxidermy Horse?
Big Thief – Shark Smile
Pleasure Systems – Crumbs
CIVIC – Down & Distant

We’re winding down for the holiday season right now, so the posts will be even more sporadic through December. We plan to use the time to check off a few gems that we missed through the year. Sometime near the end of the month, we’ll be putting up the requisite Favourite Albums/Songs of the Year lists, plus our annual round-up of the best Name-Your-Price releases on Bandcamp.

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Premiere: Vivian Fantasy – Deep. Honey.

Jon Doyle — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 20:07:53 +0000

We’ve featured the various musical projects of Richmond, Virginia’s Danny Bozella several times, from his early work with Rem’s Floating Chandelier, to his releases as Chemists // 化学者 and more recently as Vivian Fantasy. Until now, all of Bozella’s output has been self-released, but his new EP, Deep. Honey., is being put out by Seattle label Hush Hush Records, a move which will hopefully bring his rich and psychedelic bedroom pop to a wider audience.

And this is not the only sign that Vivian Fantasy is ready to take the next step. Whereas previous releases were largely instrumental, Deep. Honey. sees Bozella add vocals to every track, expressing a newfound confidence in his own voice and creative abilities. This is clear from the opening title track, which retains the warm haze and kaleidoscopic vibe of previous releases, but has a new dimension with gentle vocals that quiver with restrained emotion.

Meanwhile, ‘Florist’ builds on a poignant guitar loop with effect laden vocals, conjuring a sound like that of a lovelorn late night answerphone message, while ‘Charms’ sounds woozy and romantic, twinkling synths held in place with gauzy atmospherics and Bozella’s breathy vocals.
Finale ‘Strawberry Moon’ first appeared on Serial Experiments Volume: Pink Witch , which we reviewed back in the spring. Back then we said, “The title alone conjures all the right images, gently fantastical and full of wonder, like childhood dreams that glimmer at the edge of reality. The sound too is evocative of a dreamscape, pastel-coloured swirls of haze hugging Bozella’s smooth vocals”, and this description holds up well. It’s the perfect end to a very pretty collection of songs, and leaves the door open for whatever Vivian Fantasy does next.

Today we have the pleasure of presenting Deep. Honey. in full, just ahead of release. Check it out in the player below.

You can get Deep. Honey. from the Hush Hush Records Bandcamp page. The cassette and download come with an exclusive remix by UK producers Athlete Whippet, so be sure to check that out.

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Vivian Fantasy – Serial Experiments 1: Pink Witch

Liam Doyle — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 20:13:03 +0000

Vivian Fantasy is the new/renamed project of Richmond, Virginia’s Danny Bozella, who used to make music under the moniker Chemists // 化学者. Bozella’s latest release is a full-length titled Serial Experiments 1: Pink Witch, a bewitchingly dreamlike record that’s as much about conjuring an atmosphere as the songs themselves. As the title suggests, it’s the first of four releases that aim to catalogue all the songs and ideas that Bozella came up with between 2015 and 2017. As such, you could be forgiven for thinking that this would be a jarring collection of demos, but despite never being intended as a cohesive album, the songs are remarkably complementary.

Opening track ‘Strawberry Moon’ is the perfect introduction for a number of reasons. The title alone conjures all the right images, gently fantastical and full of wonder, like childhood dreams that glimmer at the edge of reality. The sound too is evocative of a dreamscape, pastel-coloured swirls of haze hugging Bozella’s smooth vocals. Vivian Fantasy enlists the help of fellow Virginia band The Snuggalos on the title track, another enchanted dream pop song, before ‘Where’s the Fantasy’ glitters like the cosmos twinkling above a 16-bit palm-lined seascape.

‘Are U Clean Yet?’ is a smash hit from an alternative dimension, dripping with a summertime late-night nostalgia, sounding like everyone’s favourite pop song playing at top volume in the club next door, while ‘You Were My Forest’ is a glitched-out heartfelt number, succeeded by an interlude of looped and distorted vocal samples and gauzy instrumentation, before closer ‘Surgeon is Death’ recalls acts such as Passion Pit with its emotive falsetto delivery and shimmering electronics.

If you choose to download the album (which you can do for nothing), you also get two bonus tracks which are well worth your time. Head to the Vivian Fantasy Bandcamp page to gets your hands on it!

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