Photo by Jeff Kaplan
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VYIE
Nightingale
Post-Echo Records
Release Date: February 21, 2013
Track Listing
1. Darrrk Knight
2. Saturdays II
3. Sevenguards
4. Brave Child
5. Johnny
Personnel
Jessie Monroe – bass/vocals
Janey Criss – guitar/snyth
Alex Yeager – drums
Electronica/electro pop act, VYIE got their start early last year when like-minded friends Jessi Monroe and Janey Criss stole three days from their busy lives and schedules to conduct what they both considered a musical experiment – and after recognizing that they had a musical simpatico, Monroe and Criss enlisted the help of Alex Yeager on drums to flesh out their sound. The final result of that initial experiment is VYIE’s debut EP, Nightingale which Post Echo Records officially released back in February. Interestingly album opener, and debut single “Darrrk Knight” may well be one of the better introductions to a band’s sound that I’ve heard in quite some time. The tracks on the album manage to possess an uneasy, anxious tension between a lush, densely layered sound and an icy, stark minimalism. It’s dark, moody and yes, incredibly seductive. Although admittedly, the band’s debut may draw some similarities between acts such as Zambri and – some of them are apparent to the point of being obvious. In the case of VYIE and Zambri, both acts are fronted by women and they employ quite a bit of harmony to a slickly produced mix.
At times tracks like album closer, “Johnny” sounds positively lush with their emphasis on vocals fed through reverb and delay pedal, and atmospheric keyboards. But I think the difference is that VYIE’s lyrics are based on around a semi-fictional character – a carefully constructed character with a complex backstory (much in a similar fashion to prog rock).
Admittedly, it’s not the most novel and earth-shattering thing you’ll come across. As I’ve said earlier, VYIE’s sound will bear comparisons (both fairly and unfairly) to other contemporary acts – namely Zambri and perhaps Grimes. Naturally, what the members of VYIE do next in order to set themselves apart in a very crowded field is still unseen – but for now, their debut is a solid effort with incredibly catchy hooks.
