Love Will Tear Us To Shreds - Act II: The Genre of Silence
Vee Device
www.scenemagazine.infoIf you’ve made it all the way through that mouthful of a title and are still reading this, then you’re just the kind of listener Vee Device is looking for. Vee Device might be described as prog-Americana/Folk/Jazz, and this album, like its rather prolix sobriquet, also demands patience, but thankfully rewards it as well.
In releasing the second act of their Bolshevik rock opera, Vee Device has unleashed a majestic, unkempt behemoth of ideas and sounds on discerning listeners across Northern Colorado, and, if they had their way, the world. In chronicling the real life events of ethnically and politically persecuted journalist and playwright Isaac Babel, a Stalin-era Russian Jew, they draw upon a tale ripe with artistic hope and genuine pathos. No stranger to the gulag or the biting pain of separation from his family, Babel must balance anti-fascist sentiments with his desire to not be killed, all while retaining his own humanity.
You certainly can’t knock Vee Device for lack of ambition, either lyrically or musically. Each collaborator on the album is assigned a different role in the opera, and through the functional prose the album is written in, each song advances the story while standing on its own merits as well. Musically, acoustic folk takes u-turns into jazz and occasional bouts of vocal polyphony, and almost despite the immense variety of sounds on display, a unifying voice can still be heard throughout. If you’re bored with safe, innocuous music then get this album, let it grow on you, and enjoy.
Scene Magazine -- Friday, January 2, 2009
By Nathan Harper