Vinny Vegas

Land Of Giants EP

Written by: TL on 21/10/2009 12:36:36

What would you get if you took piano-rockin' bands like Panic At The Disco or The Rocket Summer and forced them to abandon all notions of poppy structure and go for something progressive instead? I'm not sure of course, but Vinny Vegas seem to have a sensible answer on their debut EP "Land Of Giants".

Through five songs, the Baltimore quintet boxes the piano like they had a profound love for dramatic showtunes, and whoever of them sings (their myspace doesn't say) croons passionately and proficiently along in a voice that sounds a lot like a Brendon Urie/Patrick Stump hybrid. It's not like there aren't guitars, there are, they're just not the main attraction. That would be the piano, and while it sometimes bounces up and down happily like The Rocket Summer, it is mostly coated in a bluesy feel alá Death Cab For Cutie, giving the songs on "Land Of Giants" an emotive and engaging ring to them.

However, it may sound like the more classically inspired moments on PATD's "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out", but you can forget about catchy choruses or electronic misadventures. The only thing electric here are the guitars that boost the expression in its louder moments, otherwise it's clean keys all the way, and this is by no means a bad thing. Nor does it need to be, that the songs are progressively advancing rides, rather than circular verse/chorus based ones, however, it does make it harder for the mind to get well acquainted with them. On one hand, Vinny Vegas solve that relatively well, first and foremost by opening each song with strong recognizeable melodies, see for instance "The Four Rabbits" for an example on how this is done with keys, or "Watch Out For Mastodons" for the opening words "Point me to the coast" which easily embed themselves in your memory. Besides that, there are of course also small memorable gems hidden in breaks and climaxes around the songs, but I'll leave that for yourself to discover, in order to, well.. watch out for another mastodon of a review.

All in all, I am very much endeared by both the soundscape and the ambition of Vinny Vegas, however, I still have a few reservations. According to their myspace, they don't actually have a full time piano player, which makes me a bit worried about their ability to maintain their expression on coming releases. And as for this particular record, even though it has a great sound and some good moments, I feel like there's still unresolved potential left somewhere beyond the scope of these songs, and that Vinny Vegas need to gain a little more experience before they can truly start sweeping people of their feet. That being said, "Land Of Giants EP" is a very interesting debut, and one that certainly imbues the listener with lots of hope for the bands future releases.

7

Download: The Four Rabbits, Watch Out For Mastodons, We'll Call It Atlantis
For The Fans Of: Panic(!) At The Disco, The Rocket Summer, Death Cab For Cutie
Listen: myspace.com/vinnyvegas

Release Date September 2009
Self-released

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