Labels: Long Quiet Highway
Review by: Andy Malcolm
OK, so when it comes to certain bands I am a complete fan geek. And when I heard who was in Vermont, I had to have this 7″ single. Then I heard a rumour that it was ultra rare (100 copies!) and I resigned myself to not ever having a copy. Two weeks ago, I checked out a US distro on the day they update their listings. And I almost fell out my chair when I saw it there. I’ll have one, no matter the cost. Turned out to be $4 plus a bit of postage, but that’s not too bad.
And so it’s here. No idea if it is as rare as the rumour suggested, but that’s not important.
If you hadn’t heard about this, here are the names of two of the four people in Vermont – Davey von Bohlen, Dan Didier. Now you understand. If you’re going “Eh? Who?” then….well. Anyways, is it anything like *you know who*? Sort of. But then again, not at all. It’s a little more experimental and electronic, but there are definitely similarities. It’s still perfect, the guitars are still repetetive, and the vocals are still cute and wobbly. There are also some rather weirdy ‘vocoder’ vocals which sound like that ELO song (can’t remember which) that are a bit annoying, but the other touches like the swirly background sounds, the occasional violin and the rare harmonies just elevate it to the peak.
And Vermont perfectly complement Ida, who contribute a stunningly beautiful piece of folky acoustic music. I’d not heard the band before, that’s my loss. Boy + girl vocal harmonies, some strings…it all sounds so fragile. Definition of nice.
Ok, you’ve heard the details. It’s up to you to find it now if you haven’t already. Good luck!