Facebook Slider

Vassals - Halogen Days EP

  • Published in Singles

Halogen Days is an EP by New York's Vassals, and its four tracks of slow and considered musical, which will encourage you to reflect on your life, just through virtue of its thoughtful composition and relaxed pace. 

Opener 'Sea Spell' trundles along at a walking pace as distant vocals and pulsating guitars dance with shimmering percussion, distorted guitars at the end cut through the sense of wonder and nostalgia, paving the way for 'Moonless'. The second track quickly shifts from a muted number to an assured and raucous anthem, with those distorted guitar licks once again adding a welcome sense of flair to the dying moments. 

With minimal and generally quiet lyrics, 'SoHo' feels primarily like an instrumental number full of sass. Stabbing and soaring guitars create celebratory landscapes, with the dynamic prowess of famed post-rock outfits, something that 'Ghostwood' mirrors. Closing this short taste in progression style, the track escalates through a handful of atmospheres before proceeds end abruptly. 

With only four tracks Halogen Days doesn't have much scope to introduce Vassals, but it does provide a welcome taste of the band's intentions and potential. If you like intriguing and dynamic music with a focus on pace and introspection, then perhaps this band could be the flavour for you. 

Halogen Days is available from iTunes and Bandcamp

Read more...

Brooklyn’s Vassals Halogen Days EP

  • Published in News

Formed in the summer of 2011, Vassals are a Brooklyn three-piece and  a fixture of the NYC DIY scene. Originally an outlet for the bedroom rock of Shay Spence (vocalist/bassist/transgirl), their sonic potential was boosted by the addition of Jon Smith (The Can’t Tells) on drums and Jeff Fettig on guitar. The trio gained acclaim for their frenetic live shows and soon set off to a cabin in New Hampshire to record their debut LP, In My Dreams I Am a Sailor in 2012.

Save for a handful of shows and 2015’s festively furious Here We Come a Vassaling EP, things have been a little quiet for Vassals over the past few years but 2017 sees them return with the Halogen Days EP, the debut release for the fledgling Post Fun label. This darker and more unpredictable material sees Vassals realising the potential that was always so evident on their previous outputs. Self-recorded by the band at their hometown studio, The Creamery, in Brooklyn and with Spence herself contributing the artwork, this record is the result of complete creative control.

Halogen Days offers four songs of bleak beauty, chaotic minimalism and conflicted rage. The material here is frantic but muted, morose but unpredictable. The songs drift effortlessly from slacker-rock ambivalence to postpunk cynicism to huge walls of fuzzing noise and heartbreaking harmonies. Half-muttered and half-screamed, there’s a quiet anger that’s present throughout this record with so much substance beneath its skin. With a full-length LP on the horizon, Halogen Days sees Vassals returning fully formed with a sound and style entirely their own. 

 

Read more...
Subscribe to this RSS feed