In the year since the first Silver Biplanes album, Vanessa Vass (The Melons) and Tim Vass (The Razorcuts) have expanded the sound of their band. If I said that parts of Travelling by Candleight, the new one, were punchy, would that be a surprise? The record still hits at the sort of pleasures that most WIAWYA releases do, but there are more styles and shades here than on the 2023 offering.
While "Radiogram" puts me in mind of recent servings from Swansea Sound, indie era peers, the lilting "Silver Moon" finds a nice balance between force and melody. There's a slight twang to the guitar under Vanessa's yearning vocals, and the whole composition succeeds admirably. Elsewhere, a cover of "Silver Machine" by Hawkwind surprises but works, even as "Back of My Mind" echoes jangle rock of years past so very well that you'll swear you're hearing a cover of an old Three O'Clock song. Given that Tim Vass was in Razorcuts, a listener shouldn't be too surprised at the pieces here that nod in the diretion of earlier years, but with Vanessa's voice leading the way here, most of these tunes actually do more than just please on nostalgic terms.
I'm sure the Razorcuts legacy may cause folks to pick up this Silver Biplanes album, but I was really impressed by how Travelling by Candlelight serves up a big, robust form of the familiar indie rock form. "Just One More Thing" is catchy, and as big as Bandwagoneseque-era Teenage Fanclub, while "Silver Cloud", with its swirling organ and vocal patterns, works up a head of steam that seems beholden to early Stereolab and even earlier Silver Apples sides.
Even though four of these Silver Biplanes songs have the word "silver" in their titles, there is actual sonic variety on this album. Tim and Vanessa Vass have produced a release that reminds at least this listener of the sort of thing Creation Records was signing after Oasis broke, which is to say indie with a bigger sound. In that sense, this may be a more successful Silver Biplanes release than the first for a lot of listeners. I certainly enjoyed this one quite a bit, and loved hearing this band stretch a bit and succeed while doing it.
Travelling by Candlelight by Silver Biplanes is out today via WIAIWYA.
[Photo: WIAIWYA]