vee device
Soulful Pop Music: An Enigma In The Making
www.scenemagazine.comIn a society where thoughtless pop music continually batters the radio airwaves, and many listeners accept it without questioning why, it is a near impossibility for bands with something to say to gain public attention. Music fans do not have to settle for lackluster creativity, however; bands like Fort Collins-based vee device continually work to expand the boundaries of creativity in their music, without heed to the conventions of mainstream pop music.
vee device's new album, Autobiography of a Dying Band, out June 21st on veedee Records, incorporates numerous musical styles and lyrical themes throughout its 20 tracks. Ultimately, the album is a shock to the ears and mind so stagnant and subdued by overplayed pop music.
Autobiography of a Dying Band includes the genres of bluegrass, folk, jazz, rhythm and blues and classical atop a backdrop of pop song-structures. vee device's layered, harmonious sound allows them to creatively experiment with such genre-bending. Songs such as "3 Chord Magic" and "Culpability" display the band's ability to add complexity to its differing musical strengths; listening to this music inundates your thoughts with classical rhythms and beautifully-interwoven, improvisational lead arrangements on multiple instruments superimposed on concise folk-like lyrics and acoustic guitar. The song "Capitulation" takes a simple chord progression on guitar and progresses so slightly, with dark lyrics and overlapping musical arrangements, that it slowly drags your emotion into an unfathomable abyss of sound.
vee device has endured many personnel changes in its short history. The band now includes vee on guitar and vocals, G-man on guitar, mandolin, banjo and various other instruments and &roid on bass. Collectively, these three musicians fuse their many musical backgrounds and influences into a unique sound aptly referred to as "folk-infused chamber-pop."
vee device's music could be compared to the Moody Blues' early stuff, or Pink Floyd's symphonic-rock monster Atom Heart Mother, only with more bluegrass and folk influence. Band member G-man describes vee device as a band whose music "is constantly in flux." The band's transformation from its first album, Out of the Darkness, a brilliant concept album based on the east coast's massive power outage a few years ago, displays this fluctuation; Autobiography of a Dying Band, although less thematic as a whole, is more musically-experimental than its predecessor.
Band member and songwriter vee describes the title Autobiography of a Dying Band as a development from a song. "The title of the album came from a song that never made it onto the disc," says vee. "We just tweaked it a little to get the album name. The crumbling of purity and integrity (in music) is definitely a theme (also). Sometimes we can feel like our efforts are futile when confronting such decay - I guess that's another thing the title references."
The band name vee device comes from "an award a person, either civilian or military, can get for valor," says vee. "It had a nice ring to it and somehow stuck in my mind as a good name for a band. From that framework, the vee Revolution was built."
vee device's Web site has a quote that sums up its mission in the midst of contemporary popular music. "vee device believes in good music, it's as simple as that. That it defies categories is of no concern. Uncompromisingly committed to this vision, vee and his merry band continue their battle against soulless music and its purveyors."
Scene Magazine -- Friday, July 1, 2005
By Ryan Lucas