Time to roll down the windows of the pickup and turn the stereo up.
Sometimes we want music to be something of an introspective, meaningful experience. We want synthetic loops over exotic instruments, guest singers giving performances in native tongues and timings so complicated that a spider would have a job tapping its feet along with it. Sometimes we want delicacy and intimacy, the kind of thing that's best played on weekdays on the stereo with headphones. Vietnam's self titled debut is none of that. What we have with "Vietnam" is a rabble rousing ruckus through American rock heroes, taking in a bit of Pink Floyd and Bowie and filtering it through pack after pack of Marlboro reds.
Vietnam want you to know from the off that they are an organic and old fashioned kind of band. They tell you outright that their album was recorded in an analogue studio using analogue techniques. There was no brushing or neatening up of any of the tracks; any bum notes, they feel, add to the experience of the listening. And they are, of course, right - because this is an all cylinders burning, hack-the-sleeves-off-your-checked-shirt-and-buy-a-pick-up-truck masterpiece.
Upon listening to "Vietnam" one is automatically taken back to the 1970s, where songs didn't have to be three-minutes-thirty with a full, sing along choruses and hook filled middle eights. "Vietnam" simply uses the formula of all of those classic rock acts from Neil Young to Lynard Skynard – take a riff and milk it throughout the whole song. It's actually amazing how fresh this sounds. "Step On Inside" misleads the listener into thinking that this optimistic boppy number is going to be a maudlin, depressing ode to the dangers of insular hermitism, "Apocalypse" takes us on an interesting detour into the deep south of the United States and "Welcome To My Room" is a fast, frenetic thrillfest.
If you are one of those people that relishes in the new wave of electronica and considers anything that doesn't use this technology arcane and primative, then this probably isn't going to be your blend of tea. But for those who have a guitar propped up against the bed and lament the days when Led Zeppelin ruled the roost then this would be sure to please. "Vietnam" may not be quite in the same league as the other stalwarts of modern day Americana, Kings of Leon, but they do not fall that far behind.