Vanilla Swingers--Sexy and Mysterious

    I checked my email the other morning and there was a note from Vanilla Swingers. I almost deleted it without reading it, figuring it was some sort of spam. But curiosity got the best of me and I opened it, wondering what kind of swingers' group got my address??
    Lo and behold they're a British band who's requested me to review their stuff, with an actual reference to my blog entry for the day. Which means it's not one of those mass emailings we all receive from time to time. That impressed me.
    Their music did, too. It's lovely and atmospheric, sexy in a film-score kind of way, with melodic pianos and an occasional guitar edge, a nice bass beat and subtle vocals. It tells a story of time travel, love and adventure. Sounds weird, doesn't it? But there's something about a concept album (or EP, in this case) that draws me in. I wish more bands paid attention to the bigger picture, not just a theme, per se, but a creative vision, a larger story to tell than simply what transpires from song to song.
    The first song, "Danger In the Past" was produced by Ian Catt, who worked on Stars' album Heart (and who also has ties to the Field Mice, Saint Etienne, and Trembling Blue Stars). There is a certain similarity in tone to Stars' early stuff. And if you've read my blog for any amount of time, you KNOW how much I love Stars.
    These are demos from their upcoming EP, due out in early 2007.
Vanilla Swingers--"Danger in the Past" mp3 I love these lyrics: "Hearts once broken never mend, stay infected to the end, they never heal"
Vanilla Swingers--"If You Fall" mp3 I especially like the piano on this one.
Vanilla Swingers has two more songs up on myspace and two more on their website, which tells more about the story of their music. There's not a lot of information about the actual band, a male / female duo, which lends an uncommon air of mystery to the whole thing. I find that rather intriguing, don't you?

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So I had this other post all prepared about how disappointed I am that Sufjan Stevens' Philly show was like, the ONLY one not sold out of all the shows he's doing right now. Well, I am happy to say that when I checked Ticketmaster, there were no tickets available. It's about time!
Sufjan Stevens--"The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts (Live at KCRW)" mp3

tags: vanilla swingers  

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