The KVB - Of Desire

Album number five from The KVB finds the duo of Nicholas Wood and Kat Day on fine form, having beavered away at Geoff Barrow's studio to record and self-produce Of Desire's dozen tracks.

Obviously familiar though the sounds on the album are all together there's nevertheless a consolidation of their work to date firmly welded to a new understanding of what they want to produce, combined with the definite ability to achieve that.

Therefore you've the moodiness of the instrumental 'Primer' (a track whose brevity would have left lesser performers producing a mere waste of time) cast up beside the urgency of 'Night Games' and its muted yet squalling guitar never quite getting to the climax it seems to promise.

Everyone from The Cure to The Soft Moon is as evident as ever in the songs here, as you'd expect barring a Paisley pattern injection direct into the jugular, but the pair have as much to offer within their chosen genre as the next act and they do so bold and unrepentant.

Track nine, 'V11393', is space rock-like in overall feel, with the expansive textures applied to the underlying hi-hat pattern. There's a repetitive, didgeridoo sound mixed in throughout, as well a lot of high end guitar noodling amidst the galactic wooshing. It could stand to last a bit longer.

In closing out Of Desire the final three songs return to more familiar territory. 'Unknown', 'Mirrors' and 'Second Encounter', with 'Mirrors' being the one on the most epic scale despite being the shortest, all ably demonstrate the group's range and ready knack of involving the listener emotionally when not also inspiring a physical reaction.

The KVB are, on this evidence, here to stay for some time yet so you'd better get used to the idea.      

Of Desire is available from amazon and iTunes.