I used to get really excited when good local bands released records, actual physical artifacts that you could physically purchase and hold onto.
Most bands seem to be promoting their digital download singles which just isn’t as gratifying for me so I was pretty delighted to get hold of a physical copy of Dundee band Vladimir’s debut e.p. a few weeks after getting the digital version. Even better is the fact that it is pretty much everything I could want from a debut release by a new band and more.
The e.p. opens in a pretty spectacular fashion with ‘On My Wall’. It begins with some ferocious drums and a fiery bass riff with the guitar adding shade and light to provide the perfect accompaniment to Ross Murray’s vocal. The sound is a shade more subtle than the total wall of sound of Vladimir’s ear shredding live shows and the arrangement and production leave the song space to breathe. Each song flows into the other and next up is ‘I Fight Fire’. This was my favourite for a while. It drifts into focus initially with its spooky intro building up quite a dark atmosphere before really kicking off. It’s a pummeling, bruising number, imposing and fierce, full of subtle changes and shifts. It builds up to a real peak before shifting a few gears down into an eerie, discordant noise, drifting into ‘Passing’ with its catchy as hell looping guitar line that totally lodges in your psyche, pushed along by a punishing but melodic rhythm. The vocals remind me a little of Ian Curtis on this one, as Murray sings “When the light gets in / I will be there” hinting that Vladimir are somewhere between heaven and hell. This is a constant through the e.p. as it shifts between dark and light, warm and cold effortlessly covering a wide array of sounds and emotions.
An instrumental passage reminiscent of bits of My Bloody Valentines Loveless provides a link between buzzsaw rollercoaster of ‘Passing’ and the rather epic ‘Mellow’. It’s mellow in as much as the choruses are gentler than the rest of the e.p. but I’m guessing these Vladimir lads don’t do mellow in the same way that lesser mortals do it. The song builds from a fragile, bass driven verse into a venomous chorus seamlessly and repeats the trick to great effect each time, the vocals moving from a world weary resignation to all out fury, railing and howling against an energising background of discordant noise. The final track, ‘Untitled’ is an instrumental piece utilising Charles Manson’s ‘creeping’ monologue to great effect as Vladimir build up a nightmarish racket behind it. The guitar in particular sounds quite disembodied and the whole track has a cool, sleazy feel to it. It’s a lot different from the four other songs but an appropriate finale to a fantastic debut.
Influences abound in Vladimir’s music (as they do in most bands) but here, they produce something that’s more than just the sum of their record collections, a set of great songs that sound pretty distinctive. It’s quite breathtaking how assured they sound both on record and live and a damn good listen as well.
More at www.facebook.com/Vladimirdundee
Buy the EP atvladimir.bigcartel.com