While the presence of Brendan Canty (Rites of Spring, Fugazi) is likely going to get the new album from Tunnel a good deal of attention, it's the vocals and skills of Natasha Janfaza (Taciturn) which are the things that writers should focus upon. Vanilla, out this Friday, is a set of blistering post-punk, with the cuts here refining a modern approach to the kind of thing we'd all rightly have championed as college rock or post-hardcore a few decades ago. All that said, it's an album with a unique sound in an era of tired updatings of past giants.
"Monday" opens things with flashes of shoegaze filtered through electronic textures, while the more subtle "Peeling Crown" oozes both charm and a faint menace. While there are bits here that recall Garbage and even Death Cab for Cutie, the cut's supple pleasures are down to Janfaza's confident vocals, Canty's percussion choices, and the layers of keyboards. The presence of D. Saperstein, formerly of Flasher, brings another D.C. name to this record, but Vanilla owes its power to Natasha's voice.
There's obvious force in the title track on Vanilla, but I found myself drawn more to the slow-burn of "It's So Over", and the woozy pleasures of "Heartfaced Scarshape", a real highlight here. Writers might trot out comparisons to early Liz Phair here, and they'd not be wrong, though this writer feels like leaning more heavily into a nod to the second Veruca Salt album. Janfaza understands very well how to blend multiple genres here on this record, and things sound fresh as a result.
Vanilla is out on Friday via House of Joy.
[Photo: Tunnel Bandcamp]