Vatican DC • Bugs
Like a Snow Patrol, who are on drugs, whilst trying to impersonate a Pulp who aren’t, “Bugs” is simply an ugly clash of passable melodies, contrasted with horribly spaced out vocals. I wouldn’t be as mean as to suggest that Vatican DC are simply rubbish, but they are certainly misguided.
There is no doubt that the guitar solo and synthetic flourishes are pretty good. And there is certainly a potential for them to exhibit a sound built for stadiums, but they are let down by the production, which leaves us wondering whether they were ever designed to play on big speakers, or merely on headphones.
With lyrics as original as; “flushed, down the sewers of luck”, they certainly have the right ideas about poetry and art, but like an awkward teenager, they find it hard to articulate these into anything acceptably passionate.