Review Summary: Scots serve up a smorgasbord of pop rock sweet enough for radio yet spicy enough to mosh to
Remember the kind of pop rock mama used to make? With meaty guitars, fat, buttery choruses and a spicy blend of danceability and moshability? About ten years ago we couldn’t get enough of the stuff, but now it feels more like a rare delicacy. VUKOVI is the gourmet dish that’ll remind you how much you’ve missed it.
This record is a welcome throwback to the likes of Paramore’s All We Know is Falling, and Fall Out Boy’s From Under the Cork Tree while carving out a sound all its own. Sparks fly as ten-ton riffs ricochet off Janine Shilstone’s powerhouse vocals. Her contribution in particular is vital in injecting VUKOVI with personality. The swooping melodies of “Wander” trigger involuntary, soulful swaying while “Animal”‘s taunts of “come on, bitch, now” never fail to get the blood pumping. I haven’t heard a voice as unique and eminently listenable in a very long time.
The track list must have been agonised over, perfectly split between full-throttle, full-throated ragers and mid-paced anthems which are tender but never maudlin. As a result the album’s forty minutes feel like a whistle-stop city tour crammed with diverse, memorable sights. If you’re not careful you can find yourself sucked into two or three repeat listens in a single sitting as song after precision engineered song envelops you.
As might be expected from anything bearing the pop rock stamp, VUKOVI is bursting with singles – five, in fact – and any one of them would provide a much-needed shot in the arm to commercial radio. None of their music videos have cracked six figures and they haven’t bothered the charts just yet, but a healthy summer of festival appearances could change all that. Don’t wait for the mainstream to discover VUKOVI because they deserve your attention now. They’re a fully formed pop rock feast, and they might be even better than the ones mama used to make.
