Voxtrot
Your Biggest Fan
Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
Raised By Wolves
Ramesh Srivastava feels nostalgia for things that haven't happened yet. "When you wake up tomorrow,” he asks on “Rise Up In the Dirt”, “Will you be
the father of something terrible?” Then,
he reminds himself that “someday you will feel young again.” This is a dude in
his early twenties,
mind you, suffering from an acute feeling that his life is
slipping away from him. Srivastava and
his band, Voxtrot, craft immaculate songs cut from the same mold of maudlin,
upbeat rock as Belle & Sebastian and the Smiths. But the thematic unity that Srivistava brings
to each of their three EPs skyrockets them into a higher level of craftsmanship
than any other group of Morrissey wannabes. When Mothers, Sisters, Daughters
& Wives culminates in the coda of “Soft & Warm”—with Srivastava
leading a sing-along of the plea, “You are so young/ So feel alive/ And someday
you will live on your own”—an entire journey has taken place from self doubt to
reassurance. These kids will undoubtedly
overcome the weighty feeling of youth, and they may never improve upon the
songs of their first three EPs. On the
other hand, they may shed their imitative
song-structures and emerge as a real
creative force. The full album will come
out in 2007 and give us a clearer idea of where this band is headed. In the meantime, it’s more than okay that
they sound familiar and impossible to place—it means they probably sound like
your new favorite band.
-Marty Brown, 2006
Don’t worry, Belle & Sebastian, we still love you. And although The Life Pursuit gave us diminishing returns as an album, it’s still a collection of pretty fantastic songs.
I remember you pointing out this band when they were playing over the speakers at Dizzy's. First band I saw when I came to Austin! Still love these EPs!
#Whyyougottabringupoldshit
Posted by: Zeb | 2010.06.06 at 12:42