I’ve got to hand it to Vampire Hands; the 14 songs on their Modern Radio reissue straddle a lot of different musical styles -- from space rock to Afrobeat, to noise punk and back -- yet still maintain enough cohesion to keep the listener from getting whiplashed.
The first eight tracks comprise an out-of-print, self-released 2008 LP, You and Me Cherry Red. “Statuette,” with its metallic electro-thump, thick, wobbling bass, and paper-thin guitar noodling, gets the album off on ominous footing. Then, like a shaft of light breaking through a ceiling of black and threatening clouds, the laid back “No Fun” unfurls a waltzing one-two-three melody bathed in sunny guitar and galloping percussion. Such dramatic mood swings are just as likely to occur between tracks as they are within a single one. “Friendship Rd” begins as a Mahjongg-esque African drum circle that morphs ever-so-slowly into a quivering ambient dialog between pulsating guitars. The album detours back to the dark side, as the lonely, psych-tinged “Cathedral Blues One” gives way to the threatening funeral march of “Cathedral Blues Two.” A consistent production value keeps the record from flying apart amid the frequent stylistic shifts; there’s a flatness to it that, combined with the faraway sound of the vocals, beautifully complements what’s going on in the music.
The last six tracks are from a 2007 EP titled Cuz It’s a Beach Funeral, and they're a little monotonous in comparison. It, too, begins with a version of “Statuette,” only this incarnation is more exemplary of the EP as a whole: slower, spacier, and more atonal, yet it does make wonderful use of the band’s most haunting lyric, the obsessively repeated “You were splashed in appropriate black.” This mantra transitions seamlessly into “Paradise Knife Fights,” as worthy a single as I’ve heard all year. A little under two-minutes, the song repurposes a hook from Elvis’ “Latest Flame,” adds some tribal percussion, a dash of slide guitar, and churns out a beach-ready dance juggernaut. There’s nowhere to go from there but down. The remaining tracks revel in the bleaker side of psychedelia, with only the plodding, echo-drenched “Desert Dreams” really standing out.
The two releases compiled here reveal a band that’s big on atmosphere but who, in their best moments, still maintain tight control over each song. There’s a great deal of growth on display in this little disc, as the spaced-out psych-ambiance that dominates the 2007 EP is brought fully to heel on the 2008 full-length. Indeed, Me and You Cherry Red / Cuz It’s a Beach Funeral is a handy snapshot of where Vampire Hands have been and a very promising indicator of where they are heading.
1. Statuette
2. No Fun
3. Heat Fire
4. Safe Word
5. Friendship Rd
6. Cathedral Blues One
7. Cathedral Blues Two
8. Me and You Cherry Red
9. Statuette (Original Version)
10. Paradise Knife Fights
11. Beach Funeral
12. We Widows
13. Christ/Scientist
14. Desert Dream
