So rarely has the veil between now and the past been so thin. The wormhole has opened, funneling forgotten and neglected sounds into our future. I’m sure this was covered on Fringe or some alternate JJ Abrams timeline. For a sound refresher, look no further than The World is Well Lost, a sad, shoegazing look backward (or downward). Though slight rattles of Interpol circa 2002 are rattling throughout Vaadat Charigim’s breakthrough (and that’s what this is – a band a world away creating music a generation removed), there’s plenty of Ride, Catherine Wheel, and New Order touchstones to make it seem more than just a decade’s retelling of the a singular moment in the resurgence of New York City cool. This is NOT that and we should be thankful. And for all its familiar influences, it also is removed from being a carbon copy of a genre emerging from stasis. The Tel Aviv band may not be breaking new ground in melody but certainly are returning to an emotional state that seems appropriate for a world repeating prior mistakes of sour economics, heightened emotions, and tense histrionics. While those without the psychological capacity to invoke change and accept reality turn to trollop pop idols, Vaadat Charigim exist on the realm of the other movement: revisionism. We’ve visited the pop 80s, now we turn to its seedier side as well as the grungy underbelly of 90s grit. It’s not a PG world despite rating systems and parental controls to the contrary. The World is Well Lost but that doesn’t mean we can’t find it. Let’s begin here and see where we end up.
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