Highlights: Broke, Trying To Do Better, You’ll
Stay, Let’s Pray
8/10
Any man of talent should be a genius once in a while.
It’s axiomatic. If that is not the case, talent is delusional. The question is,
how does Tom Vek fit into that idea? Well, there’s a chance you’re not familiar
with Tom’s two previous albums (both are amazing, incidentally), but do
yourself a favour and listen to his new song “Broke”. If that silly, deranged
synth riff you hear isn’t musical genius, nothing
is.
“Tongue avoids the teeth on a daily basis”. Tom Vek is
a man who knows how to do quirky with taste and catchy with style. Luck, his third album in what sounds
like 10 very long years, is all about that. I may dislike the idea of huge gaps
between records, but in Tom’s case you have to accept the rules. The man’s a
goddamned perfectionist, and every second on this album has been thought to
death.
Besides, it is nice to have an album that is actually
an event. An obscure, underrated event, but an event nonetheless. Two things
make it work. Tom Vek has a very distinct style, and he knows his way around
hooks. These hooks attack your brain like zombies in a violent computer game
that just keeps getting faster and faster. But it is all so brilliantly tied
together by Tom Vek’s stylish, cool, detached vocal intonations. It’s not
emotional, it’s clever. The way he starts it all with a repetitive, lazily
engaging groove of “How Am I Meant To Know”. The way musical phrases of “Trying
To Get Better” seem so different yet seamless. The way he breaks it up with the
Spanish-tinged, melancholic guitar of “The Girl You Wouldn’t Leave For Any
Other Girl”. Even when it is ugly and disheveled (“Mistakes”), it still works (almost).
By way of all those synthesizers, drum machines, echoey vocals and god knows
what other sounds Tom uses with such artistry and expertise.
“You’re skating on thin ice with a heavy heart”. This
line starts “Pushing Your Luck”, and it just might be the perfect description
of this album. Luck is edgy,
claustrophobic, intelligent. It has dance beats, but they will not get you on
the dance floor.
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