The music of Virginia Trance earns comparisons to stuff on Flying Nun Records, and I suppose that's accurate. And if I say that it sounds like any number of bands from the whole college rock boom of the Nineties, I guess that's another way of saying the same thing, given the huge influence Flying Nun bands had on those Clinton era pioneers. Vincent's Playlist drops on BYM Records on Friday and it's nothing if not listenable.
"High" and "Some People" sound like The Verlaines and The Clean, respectively, but not too much. However, "Between You and Me" is far more distinctive. Sure, there's a bit of Sonic Youth and The Feelies here, but the cut rumbles and rattles with a charm all its own. Elsewhere, "Hello Lou Reed" is not nearly as precious as its title might lead you to believe, while "Sway" sways like The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience, to use another New Zealand reference.
It would be easy to wish that Scott Ryan Davis had made a whole album like "Color & View", one of the real highlights here, but the world already has Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and they can do that kind of thing spectacularly well. No, Davis is eager throughout this record to offer up material that hits at the pleasure-points you recognize because you know the bands he's referencing, only to change things up. Everything on Vincent's Playlist is a pleasure to listen to, and the record's a joy to sink into. And I'm not just saying that because he's got a song named after one of my favorite American painters on the album.
Vincent's Playlist is out on Friday via BYM Records.
More details via the official Facebook page for the label.
[Photo: Teddie Davis]