VIB GYOR are about to release a debut single "Fallen" (with "How Long Have I Lost") on Too Nice Recordings. At about the same time (April 18th) they're supporting GOLDFRAPP at a launch party for Radio Station XFM Manchester. After VIB GYOR's long preparation away from wider public notice, this special free gig tonight marks a kind of coming out for a band of whom much has been expected.
When I first saw them at Leeds Cockpit, trying our for a shot at the new talent stage of Leeds Festival a couple of years ago they had all the music but little of the stage presence that would define them as serious contenders. Tonight, their seasoned, authoritative presence on stage is a world away. Their street clothes are no more designer-coordinated than they ever were. But they wear them in that comfortable musicianly way that seems to say "what day job?". This isn’t styling put on in a hurry at 6 o clock after work. This leather jacket, this woolly hat, this stubble are exactly as they were at two this afternoon and midnight last week. This is a band who have been in the back of the van for long enough to look and sound utterly convincing as the cool outsiders who are in town for one night only – just like our guitar heroes should be.
The general sound is muscular indie – big songs with a lot of guitar power, atmospheric keyboards and a thrilling purveyor of voice in David Fendick. This sort of thing is not much heard outside of the US these days– combining musically adroit five piece band dynamics with good songs and a loud full-blooded sound doesn’t come easy. Or cheap. Once RADIOHEAD had got as far as OK Computer, no one else seemed to have the bottle to go anywhere near. I heard a rumour tonight that one Brudenell Social Club acolyte, putting up posters for an event later in the month was driven out of the building by the sheer volume of the sound check.
The cast of this band of players? Zane Keenan does the nutty stoned professor, tearing away at inner theories through guitar and keyboards, oblivious to the world beyond his part in the sound. Dan Spooner lurks like a bass player in the shadows, with permission to wear his woolly hat granted by the talent police. Guitarist Jonny Mulroy twitches and moves incessantly, a hyperactive chancer with one eye on the ladies in teh audience and the other on the exit. Singer and third guitar Dave Fendick is the Big Guy In The Middle – a rock for everyone to lean on, spin round and kick off from. He has one of the larger, more compelling voices in today's music. Jonny Hooker does dramatic and punchy drumming with a look of generous malice behind hyper-alert features.
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Tonight's songs mix old and new. It's clear how prolific and commanding their repertoire already is. It’s a fifty minute set, and there are plenty of songs crowded out to accommodate newer material. When the album eventually arrives it’s going to be a solid piece of architecture with lots of rooms for visitors to explore.
The set runs through the languid "Insomnia" and "Red Lights", each with their characteristic emotional crescendos. Then "Tiny Daggers", the spooky drum laden "Permanent Disguise", "Silence", the glorious, swaying single "Fallen", "The Secret" and the hymn-like "How Long Have I Lost?", showing off the value of three voices and a creative keyboard player.
They finish with what looks like un uncharacteristically pre-arranged "encore" section with the eerie "Church Bell", the violence and thrilling loudness of "Stalker" and the sinuous closer "Long Way Down".
Tending to epic lengths the songs are still tightly structured and leave little time for generalised freak out sections. They are strong and expansive and feel comfortable at five, six or seven minutes a piece. The use of ambiguous time signatures (tending to sound like six or even twelve eight) introduces a head-swimming kind of psychedelia to the proceedings (especially so in "Fallen", providing a soundscape within which Fendick's voice can soar through the octaves and haunt the audience from his considerable height.
It was a commanding performance, with a good build up provided by support sets from I AM JACK and BELARUS. I AM JACK showed off some creative guitar playing with good dynamic control and well-made songs. Diffident to a fault, they have songs that demand to be sung, and harmonised, in big strong voices that they seemed to lack tonight. BELARUS were similarly competent, with a big doomy opening and plenty of open space for thunder and fireworks. One or two leftfield imports made introduction and playouts interesting, and vocals were strong. Both were professional outfits and the whole evening was a bit of a treat.
www.vib-gyor.com
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