Album Review: Vukovi - 'Fall Better'
Vukovi’s sophomore album is stupidly good. It’s dark, it’s aggressively self-affirming, and it’s really fucking good.
To quote the opening track: “The content you have selected contains strong language, dark themes, and some dirty fucking riffs.” That could not have been more accurate a description. Dirty fucking riffs indeed. From the very first song, ‘Violent Minds’, you know you’re in for a treat. It’s poundingly powerful, with Janine Shilstone’s vocals screaming out with a sense of fear and anxiety over what can only be described as chaos incarnate. It’s hard to focus on any one part of the song; it’s all encompassing, and it’s the epitome of hard hitting rock. You’re gripped from the opening seconds; the fact that this is only the first song spells out good things for the rest of the album.
‘Aura’, the second track, is a bit more poppy. Though, don’t fear — its catchy as hell, and upbeat too, but it retains the sense of urgency and rebellious agency that the Glaswegian band are known for. The song acts as an anthem for any disenfranchised fans, feeling isolated or alienated from whatever or whoever in their life: ‘Don’t be scared, you’re not alone/you’re with us too’. Lyrically it’s incredibly reassuring, and musically it’s as stunningly good ever.
Following comes the first single of this new phase in the band’s evolution, ‘C.L.A.U.D.I.A’. The song mirrors the music video, with only one thing on the mind: escape. The hooks and electronically layered lyrics seem to close in as the song progresses, giving a sense of claustrophobic tension; yet in the same way it’s as if you’re in a protected bubble, an observer, onset by darkness. More than that though — it’s damn good.
The whole album is coherently excellent, yet each song retains its own sense of unique brilliance that keeps the album fresh. The incessantly, insistently, intricately delicate ‘Behave’ creates a nice mix between songs you can dance to with the heady heaviness that’s become a hallmark for one of my new favourite bands, while ‘Play With Me ‘Cos I Can Take It’ seems to exist simply to showcase the combined mastery of the duo — it’s less moshy and more headbangy.
Some songs are more apparent in their roots. Third single ‘All That Candy’, for instance, is particularly powerful in its imagery— “I’m already broken”, “You kindly crushed my life... I want to cut you off/ You’re the sickness in my blood” — speaks of Janine’s struggle with her recently diagnosed form of OCD, and the constant shadow it casts over her life, itself a constant shadow over the album’s vibrancy, while more balladesque ‘I’m Sorry’ seems to be pleading for a second chance with someone hurt, almost irreparably; “All I want is to be by your side... but I lost my chance”.
The soulfully acoustic (at least, comparatively acoustic — this is still Vukovi we’re talking about) “Where Are You” slows it down; it’s a full on swaying, lighters-aloft song which bleeds the intimacy of the lyrics on its sleeve, and precedes the darkly emotional “White Lies”, that seems to almost be the mirror to the desperation of “I’m Sorry”; it slowly builds, but overall these two tracks create an oasis of calm in the otherwise hectic album.
Plus, they allow the final track “Run/Hide” to shine. It’s a ‘super mature, heavy, fucked up track’ — not my words, but from guitarist Hamish Reilly — that grows almost parasitically from another dirty fucking riff. It’s ferocious, and seems to promise walls of death for moshers to beat themselves against. Plus, it features an almost juxtaposed anime voice/hook, supposedly from guitar pedal Miku Stomp, which adds to the sheer frantic fun of the three minute wonder.
As individual songs, each stands out in its own way, and each is destined for greatness. As an album, it’s stupidly good.
Words by James O’Sullivan
