Bright Young Thing
Being hailed as something close to the saviour of British music by excitable fashionistas at the age of 23, after only a couple of singles produced in your Dad's garage must be a disconcerting experience. It also places an unfair amount of expectation on your shoulders, the weight of which would make you either sink or swim.
The first thing you notice about this record is the quality of the sound, it really does come across like a demo recorded in a garage, there's no big label polish up going on here, and so it retains a pleasing edgy rawness. The first four tracks find Vek validating the interest shown in him. "C-C (You Set The Fire In Me) is a pop gem that's driven along with organ stabs and morphing bass. "I Aint Saying My Goodbyes" takes its cue from early Pil with a dub/disco bass line and New Order's influence shines through in its frazzled guitars and disco noodlings. It continues to illustrate that Vek has a keen ear for pop hooks that implant themselves deep into your psyche. "If You Want" is a loose funk saunter that's driven along by the now omnipotent post punk bass line and "A Little Word In Your Ear" again is pop perfection with all the aforementioned elements rearranged.
After this point though things take a turn for the worse, starting with "If I Had Changed My Mind". A carbon copy of The Fall to the point of Karaoke, it's as if Vek had run out of ideas and settled on a Mark E Smith impression, not a bad idea on its own but when coupled with a heavy Fall musical influence , you just end up with, well, The Fall. "The Lower The Sun" although containing a great fuzzy bass line lacks a focal point and so ends up as a directionless meander. The same goes for "Cover", "Nothing But Green Lights" and "On The Road', all have interesting elements in isolation but as a whole they never amount to a coherent form, so sadly their potential lays dormant. The LP does end on an interesting note though with "That Can Be Arranged". The most overtly electronic track on the LP, it combines a glitchy beat construct with delicate guitar chords and maybe suggests that Vek's future releases will incorporate these elements more.
The serious dip in quality suggests the LP was rushed into existence and would possibly been better served as a mini LP, giving Vek more time to develop his ideas. And there are ideas and influence a plenty in places, the aforementioned Pil rub shoulders with Talking Heads who nuzzle up close against The Pixies who are busy gently caressing the heaving buttocks of Blondie who in turn vigorously grapples with Isaac Hayes' magisterial Shaft. At times it's a veritable hot bed and an orgy of styles (and a terrible metaphor) that cant help but arouse and seduce even the most impotent of music lovers. But sadly it's all over before it gets going and ultimately leaves you frustrated and searching for something with a bit more stamina.