Evans The Death - Vanilla Vinyl Record

London five-piece Evans the Death return with Vanilla, their most ambitious and experimental album to date, eschewing the more traditional pop structures and hooks of their first two albums. Vanilla sees the band veer in an ever more adventurous direction: more aggressive, extroverted and raw. The new album was recorded with producer Rory Attwell, who worked on both of their previous records. Highly variegated in style and mood, brimming with extreme contrasts, from noisy to funky to melodic, energetic to dejected, full of chaos and restlessness. Theres the psychedelic snarl of Haunted Wheelchair built around dissonant, ominous, jazz-like chords, which build a sense of dread and paranoia. Theres also the no-wave party vibe of Suitcase Jimmy. Hey! Buddy is an unintentionally mean-spirited askew pop tune. While the wartime dancehall of Cable St. Blues is an odd duet between two parts of the psyche, representing an argument you have with your-self, about depression and extreme self-criticism and self-doubt. Hot Sauce is led by a groovy, capacious bassline, while Armchair Theatre, the quietest, prettiest song on the record, starts out like a soft rock classic and turns in to a gorgeously mournful song. Welcome to Usk draws on Ennio Morricones spaghetti western soundtracks and parts of Vivian Kubricks score for Full Metal Jacket, with a banging disco section thrown in for good measure.

• Format Detail: LP
• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Rock