Its been a long time since an album hit me as hardly as it did upon first listen of post-hardcore/indie outfit Victor! Fix The Sun's
Person, Place, Or Thing. Weighing in at six songs and just over a half-hour, this album still manages to pack a punch. V!FTS' sound can be loosely described as something like La Dispute, but that's a stretch itself. One thing is for sure though, this is one hell of an album from a band that is criminally unknown.*
The album starts off nicely with "My Friend The Guru" with a rolling drum-line on top of dissonant guitar strumming and builds into a nice post-hardcore piece that flows extremely well. The vocals range from more than capable singing akin to Daughters' Elvis-like voice, just nowhere near as convincing, to some great screams that sound similar to Jordan Dreyer's of La Dispute.
The whole album employs the basic formula of songs starting out sparse and bulding into aggressive finales, but every song manages to sound distinct and unique. "We Come From The Northwoods" shows off the heavier side of the band, with predominately screamed vocals. "Paperthin Feather" is the perfect followup, as it is one of the more mellow tracks here, with a focus on clean vocals, though the screams are placed exceptionally well too. "Blind Man's Bluff" is a ridiculously fun intermission track clocking in at only two minutes, using a vaguely jazzy guitar riff to support the catchy lyrics that are screamed over top. It provides a nice little break amidst the other tracks that are upwards of six minutes long.
The title track is just more of the same, though at this point its rather obvious that its more than welcome. The track does employ some cool start-stop time shifts that are entertaining, and of course when you add in the vocals, its all very pleasant to listen to. The closer "Infested, Mother Approved" shows off the more experimental sound of the band by dabbling in blues for the verses and using bridges to connect things as opposed to sudden time shifts. It all flows very well and comes out sounding cohesive and serves are a perfect conclusion to a great album.
If you have heard about this band but have just neglected to check them out, i suggest you get on it. You won't regret it.
Recommended if you like:
La Dispute
BATS
mewithoutYou
Daughters
Good Music
*As of this review, there are but a skimpy three ratings for this album. Come on people.
