The Rambling Vibes

The EP

Written by: PP on 29/06/2014 00:07:40

The Rambling Vibes are a Danish rock band from Slagelse, who play the genre according to textbook rules and avoid any sort of experimental interpretation on how it should be played on their debut EP that is simply titled "The EP". It's a hard rock style that looks deep into the quintessential southern state rock'n'roll formula that developed classics like "Sweet Home Alabama" (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and others in same fashion. While not as progressive and cheesy as those guys, The Rambling Vibes go for a similarly dated hard rock expression that barely feels relevant in 2014.

Yes, there is a revival going on in the whole psychedelic rock scene that draws from the 70s. You only need to ask our scribe BV one question about that and he'll go on and on for hours about the topic. But here, The Rambling Vibes are simply looking back at the generic southern rock / hard rock style, probably because they love some of those songs very dearly themselves, and try to re-create them in best possible manner throughout the EP. While the effort is commendable - especially "Keep Dancing" is as classic southern rock as it comes with Alabama coming to mind - the overall expression just feels questionable. The psychedelic / heritage rock revival works because it also adds innovation into the mix. None of that is visible on "The EP", so while the four songs on the record are decent enough, you'll finish the EP thinking: well, I've heard this same stuff played much better on previous records, why should I bother putting this on again?

I may be a little harsh here, but in Denmark we have an endemic problem with countless new bands trying to write the same album that was released in the late 70s / early 80s, who all sound more or less identical to each other. That's not adding value to the scene. That's just showing lack of insight into what is actually happening in the music scene today. Basically, Förtress is the ironic expression of this in the Danish rock scene, and it works because they poke fun at the genre while still playing it with class and quality. Here, The Rambling Vibes play decent rock'n'roll, but are so unoriginal it is difficult to award them any higher points.

5

Download: Keep Dancing
For the fans of: Lynyrd Skynyrd, any 80s hard rock band
Listen: Facebook

Release date 05.03.2014
Self-Released

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