Out of the Darkness
vee device comes into the light.
www.rockymountainbullhorn.comFort Collins-based vee device is unexpected. The five-piece, self-described “folk-infused chamber pop” band features a mandolin, banjo—and a cello. Sam Ernst booked the band on KRFC’s “Live@Lunch” before he even had a band, and they performed on-air with only two rehearsals under their collective belt. And their debut album, produced in Ernst’s bedroom and released May 11, is a concept album.
Concept albums are a risky endeavor for any band, even for accomplished musicians. When they work, they are good. And when they fail, they are embarrassing.
Out of the Darkness does not fail, perhaps because it follows a very broad theme: darkness. Ernst began writing songs about darkness while observing streetlights outside the window where he was staying in Scotland. When he returned to the U.S., the blackout of 2003 shut the lights off along the East Coast, and the fear that followed fleshed out the metaphors he had been working on.
“[Darkness] is a universal theme that can be applied to any metaphor: good versus evil,” he says.
For Ernst, the darkness is a symbol for loss of comfort and feeling of safety, something he sees permeating society. “We’re still in a state of blackout, essentially.”
While darkness permeates the album lyrically—the word recurs throughout—musically the darkness is more subtle. Despite what one might think a banjo and mandolin might sound like together, the music is not bluegrass. While the cello keeps a steady stroke, the mandolin breaks it up, and Ernst’s almost monotone baritone has a heroin-folk feel. The melodies found within the instrumentation, and the overall sound of the eclectic combo of instruments, add a light contrast to Ernst’s somber tone.
With the album done, vee device — including Andrea Virtullo, who holds a master’s degree in cello, multi-instrumentalist Grant Gordy, Erica Izard on banjo and bassist Daniel Johnson — are focusing on their live show, an area where the band lacks a lot of experience. Ernst says that since their inception last October, they’ve had trouble drawing an audience to their shows. But at a concert at Java Lounge in Loveland at the end of April, a group showed up who knew the lyrics, presumably from a copy of the CD that had been circulating.
“I think we’re on a good upward climb,” Ernst says.
Perhaps they are; on May 11they had an audition with MCA Universal, an opportunity that just fell into their laps. Ernst wants vee device — named after an army award — to inspire a musical revolution.
“There’s a lot of soul lacking from music today,” he says. “We’re going to change that.”
While that remains to be seen, Out of the Darkness shows an ambitious band with some new ideas.
The Rocky Mountain Bullhorn -- Thursday, May 11 2004
By Josh Johnson