vee device
Autobiography Of A Dying Band
www.splendidezine.comFor a three piece band, vee device make a lot of noise. Combining all manner of eclectic instrumentation (cello, mandolin, banjo and trombone all make appearances) and genre types (rock, jazz, bluegrass and indie are the most prominent), Autobiography ... sets even its most disparate elements on common ground, and then swaddles them in stellar melodies, subtle hooks and fine lyricism.
The disc kicks off by kicking the bucket (metaphorically, of course): "Mist on the Moor (Lament for a Dying Band)" consists solely of a meditative bass played by &roid. As "Mist" ends, the bass line becomes the anchor for "Dreams on the Floor", which follows. The arrangement and chops on display here speak volumes about the band members' musicianship, not to mention songwriter vee's compositional gifts, but the proceedings are marred by one terrible, nearly inexplicable lyric: "The last four digits of my phone number / are the same as my social security number / I shouldn't tell you that." Fortunately, it's Autobiography's only truly cringeworthy lyric, and the band immediately makes up for it with a fiery bluegrass instrumental.
It's difficult to pound vee device's style into the standard genre pegboard; every track is distinctive, inventive and well-played. The band toys with '70s Adult Contemporary on "Ghosts in the Glass", though the song ends incongruously in a Lynyrd Skynyrd quote. Enst more than atones for his earlier lyrical misstep here, with the bittersweet phrase, "My head rests on the window / The planet rumbles through the glass / Runway lines in double-file and tarmac over grass." Elsewhere, the band strikes gold with "Abductalized"'s big band-meets-banjo sound; questionable word coinage aside, the song is a gem, casting sharp hooks into a sad story -- the best B-side that Belle & Sebastian never recorded.
Let's hope that Autobiography of a Dying Band is a far cry from the truth. Based on their work here, vee device's future looks bright.
Splendid Magazine -- Saturday, August 27 2005
By Tyson Lynn